Hi everyone,

I know a lot of people that cut eggs before they are hatched, I am cool with that. But I have a question, I have been watching a lot of prehistoric pets videos on youtube lately. When he cuts the eggs open, he like digs around in the egg. I remember awhile back Larry cut open the lavender eggs on the show and was talking about how he is going to have to be carefull.. So how does Jay (Prehistoric pets) just dig around in the egg without harming the animals? He does this more so in Retic eggs, but he still does it in ball eggs.

YouTube- Continuing the Albino Titanium Project Around 1:09 you see what I am talking about. (these are Retics)

I wouldnt do it myself but to each their own.....

I always thought he was crazy everytime I seen him just rip a hatchlings right out of the eggs.

I have cut eggs and not cut eggs...no difference in hatch rate's for me....but then again I have not produced thousands of eggs like some folks have....who may think it's a better approach to just letting them hatch, some 'cutters just wanna see what's inside due to their impatience :lol:

I also have accidentally killed a few cutting veins :(

I wouldnt do it myself but to each their own.....

:yessir:

That video was pretty infamous for a while and for the exact reasons you brought up. I'm planning to cut eggs, but definitely not the Jay at Prehistoric Pets way.

When we cut eggs I try to keep all the contents in the eggs, not let all the liquid ooze out. When we are done the sack inside the egg is still in tact most of the time. I don't think I would have the guts to do what he's doing.

His videos are not the perfect example of how to go about cutting. To me his sloppy hatchling techniques reflex on the way they must treat their animals.

You must be very cautious when cutting. You must also never pull the snake out. Just cut peek in, and put the egg back the way it was without dropping any yolk.

This is the way people who actually care about their animals cut their eggs.
YouTube- Henry Piorun - Viewing his Ball Python clutch - Nov 10, 2008

Depends on how far along they are to me, they are much stronger than people give them credit but I am careful because I want them to absorb as much yolk as possible...

I've seen a lot of people cut eggs before, I just thought it was redicoulous how he just dug around in the egg. I'm glad I'm not the only one..

Depends on how far along they are to me, they are much stronger than people give them credit but I am careful because I want them to absorb as much yolk as possible...

Bingo...All depends on how far along they are...

I cut a clutch this year on day 43 (don't tell anybody - might freak some people out) this year...I was real careful not to spill anything...They all hatched just fine...I've cut eggs on day 55 and pulled the tail out and sexed them (that might freak some people out too...LOL) - They all hatched fine...

Bingo...All depends on how far along they are...

I cut a clutch this year on day 43 (don't tell anybody - might freak some people out) this year...I was real careful not to spill anything...They all hatched just fine...I've cut eggs on day 55 and pulled the tail out and sexed them (that might freak some people out too...LOL) - They all hatched fine...
We cut a clutch on day 43 this year too, they all hatched fine.:cheers: We have also sexed snakes in eggs too :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: We are Too impatient! :p

There are a few other breeders I've seen yank the hatchlings all the way out and it's always bothered me.

I just cut a hole big enough to take a pic of whats in.But only after day 50.
Never had a problem.

I'm so glad someone brought up Jay's egg-cutting videos. I've just been watching them myself this last week and the way he slashes with a razor blade as if he were opening a plastic clamshell just shocks me. But worse is how he just digs in and scoops the snake out of the egg! My son and I watch this and we were both disgusted by his videos! Obviously the snakes survive his heavy-handed handling, but it's not the way I would do it. I just feel sorry for those baby snakes' first appearance of the world being a razor sharp slice like a fierce samurai followed by two fat fingers scooping him out of his quiet, peaceful, warm home. Thank god Jay doesn't deliver babies! :eek:

Interestingly I happened upon Henry Piorun's videos at about the same time, and it's a night and day difference in approaches! I think I'll use Henry's technique over Jay's any day!

Plus have you noticed how clean and white Henry's eggs are? Must be the egg-crating and smaller amount of substrate. :dunno: Whatever it is Henry seems to have his methods down pat since his eggs almost always look perfect!

Plus have you noticed how clean and white Henry's eggs are? Must be the egg-crating and smaller amount of substrate. :dunno: Whatever it is Henry seems to have his methods down pat since his eggs almost always look perfect!

Not to defend Jay or his practices (even though I have sliced and diced my share of eggs well beyond what most of you would do or feel comfortable watching) but he has stated before that they save all those nasty eggs that you or I would toss out as bad eggs...they pamper the hell out of them to get them hatch.

Actually this is a more disturbing egg-cutting video from PP. Here Jay shows why he's the Billy Mays of reptile breeders.

YouTube- New Retics

Actually this is a more disturbing egg-cutting video from PP. Here Jay shows why he's the Billy Mays of reptile breeders.

YouTube- New Retics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcFo1cmNRes)

I know you know this but that one has been beaten up in the saloon...adding these videos only add to his watch count on youtube...sort of like promoting for him.

Not to defend Jay or his practices (even though I have sliced and diced my share of eggs well beyond what most of you would do or feel comfortable watching) but he has stated before that they save all those nasty eggs that you or I would toss out as bad eggs...they pamper the hell out of them to get them hatch.

I'm trying hard not to be down on Jay, I don't know him personally, but his handling of his snakes is pretty heavy-handled IMO. I've watched enough of his videos to form my own opinion, and that is he treats his animals like hardware. For example this video of him showing his BPs makes me think of going to a hardware store and being shown drawer fulls of door knobs. :rolleyes:

YouTube- Ball Python Tour

I know you know this but that one has been beaten up in the saloon...adding these videos only add to his watch count on youtube...sort of like promoting for him.

Sorry, that was not my intention, believe me. I was just sharing this with the OP who may not have seen it. Heck, I never saw it until a week ago myself!

Sorry, that was not my intention, believe me. I was just sharing this with the OP who may not have seen it. Heck, I never saw it until a week ago myself!

No issues, just pointing it out also...

The (almost) only time I cut eggs is after they pipped...I'll enlarge the slice and take a peek inside. The only other reason is if they go beyond 65 days, I'll cut them to see if the baby is still alive.

Man has tried to improve on Nature for thousands of years...I say, let Nature take it's course. I'm patient, I can wait.

The (almost) only time I cut eggs is after they pipped...I'll enlarge the slice and take a peek inside. The only other reason is if they go beyond 65 days, I'll cut them to see if the baby is still alive.

Man has tried to improve on Nature for thousands of years...I say, let Nature take it's course. I'm patient, I can wait.

I can attest to that. Scott is extremely patient. Whereas, I will make a nice cut as soon as I see the first cut in the egg made from the baby. (I like to make sure he's got a big enough hole to get out of.)

I can attest to that. Scott is extremely patient. Whereas, I will make a nice cut as soon as I see the first cut in the egg made from the baby. (I like to make sure he's got a big enough hole to get out of.)

I can not get myself to cut an egg, just being wimpy. I have however used those tiny little trimmer scissors to open a slit a little more on crested eggs before I changed out how I had them set up. (They ran a little dry using vermeculite and had a few come part way out and die) Haven't cut anything though since switching. Have seen Bruce cut ball eggs, but carefullym and never saw him poking around in there!

As far as Henry Piorun is concerned, I have been to his place and its pretty well set up. Everything is clean and attractively done... his racks are amazing and make me drool!
Jay is a wanker.
my 2cents
:devil:

I'm trying hard not to be down on Jay, I don't know him personally, but his handling of his snakes is pretty heavy-handled IMO. I've watched enough of his videos to form my own opinion, and that is he treats his animals like hardware. For example this video of him showing his BPs makes me think of going to a hardware store and being shown drawer fulls of door knobs. :rolleyes:


You think his vids are bad, you should see his store. Mites, stuck sheds, multiple snakes in one enclosure, mouth rot, rubbed noses, small cages for VERY large snakes and monitors...it's pretty awful.

i cut carefully only after the first egg pips.
then it's just to peek in.
then i let them do their own thing. watching them peacefully posed with only their head out, chin on the egg, you'd have to believe they need that time to process what they are about to do. kerig's comment about jay's hardware store could not be more true.
after the first one comes out, i will cut a window in the others, but just to check for tangles or other issues.
yanking seemingly healthy critters without apparent complication issues out of a perfectly fine egg is not acceptable in my eyes.
at the end of the day, cutting early really has no upside.
good luck to you all this season,
ck

The (almost) only time I cut eggs is after they pipped...I'll enlarge the slice and take a peek inside. The only other reason is if they go beyond 65 days, I'll cut them to see if the baby is still alive.

Man has tried to improve on Nature for thousands of years...I say, let Nature take it's course. I'm patient, I can wait.

i cut carefully only after the first egg pips.
then it's just to peek in.
then i let them do their own thing. watching them peacefully posed with only their head out, chin on the egg, you'd have to believe they need that time to process what they are about to do. kerig's comment about jay's hardware store could not be more true.
after the first one comes out, i will cut a window in the others, but just to check for tangles or other issues.
yanking seemingly healthy critters without apparent complication issues out of a perfectly fine egg is not acceptable in my eyes.
at the end of the day, cutting early really has no upside.
good luck to you all this season,
ck

This is what I do :yessir::cheers:

His videos are not the perfect example of how to go about cutting. To me his sloppy hatchling techniques reflex on the way they must treat their animals.

You must be very cautious when cutting. You must also never pull the snake out. Just cut peek in, and put the egg back the way it was without dropping any yolk.

This is the way people who actually care about their animals cut their eggs.
YouTube- Henry Piorun - Viewing his Ball Python clutch - Nov 10, 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rscxlveev3A)

You can tell that Henry doesn't want to take a chance on harming any of the babies. I cut, but I do it like Henry because I can't bear the thought of losing even one of the babies due to negligence.

I cut viewing holes in the eggs after the first snake pips... I dont see any need it ripping the poor snake out of the egg before its ready!

I know that posting this will boost his views again, but how else to share it? :dunno:

A new video from Prehorrific Pets showing Jay the slasher cutting eggs, but this time ball python eggs. I thought maybe he handled retic eggs and BP eggs differently, but once again he takes the razor blade to the egg and hacks them up. It freaks me out just watching him...scarier than any of the Saw movies. :mad:

YouTube- Lesser Ball Python Clutch

Idk about you but i almost get impatient and cut five days before there due.

I know that posting this will boost his views again, but how else to share it? :dunno:

A new video from Prehorrific Pets showing Jay the slasher cutting eggs, but this time ball python eggs. I thought maybe he handled retic eggs and BP eggs differently, but once again he takes the razor blade to the egg and hacks them up. It freaks me out just watching him...scarier than any of the Saw movies. :mad:

YouTube- Lesser Ball Python Clutch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZIE16F3oY)

Wow i think he gives egg cutters a bad name.

Depends on how far along they are to me, they are much stronger than people give them credit but I am careful because I want them to absorb as much yolk as possible...

Bingo...All depends on how far along they are...

I cut a clutch this year on day 43 (don't tell anybody - might freak some people out) this year...I was real careful not to spill anything...They all hatched just fine...I've cut eggs on day 55 and pulled the tail out and sexed them (that might freak some people out too...LOL) - They all hatched fine...

Exactly right...You don't try to cut half baked bread do yah? :greenman:

I'm trying hard not to be down on Jay, I don't know him personally, but his handling of his snakes is pretty heavy-handled IMO. I've watched enough of his videos to form my own opinion, and that is he treats his animals like hardware. For example this video of him showing his BPs makes me think of going to a hardware store and being shown drawer fulls of door knobs. :rolleyes:

YouTube- Ball Python Tour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUVR4FyEO9A)

:eek:...listen for the thud @ 1:27

Wow i think he gives egg cutters a bad name.

The way he quickly slices through that last egg made me and my son cringe and look away. When he was finished the egg box looked like it had been hit with a shotgun blast. :mad:

Questions: Aren't you supposed to cut the top to avoid hitting all the veins on the sides of the egg? And does anyone else use razor blades?

I guess I can see using razor blades if you're controlling the depth of the cut with your fingers holding the sides of the blade, but Jay isn't doing that. He's just going by feel I guess. It still makes me squirm watching him hack his eggs.

:eek:...listen for the thud @ 1:27

I know...treated like a hammer. :mad:

The way he quickly slices through that last egg made me and my son cringe and look away. When he was finished the egg box looked like it had been hit with a shotgun blast. :mad:

Questions: Aren't you supposed to cut the top to avoid hitting all the veins on the sides of the egg? And does anyone else use razor blades?

I guess I can see using razor blades if you're controlling the depth of the cut with your fingers holding the sides of the blade, but Jay isn't doing that. He's just going by feel I guess. It still makes me squirm watching him hack his eggs.

I use them (easier to toss in the trash then clean over and over again the scissors that I sometimes use) and no I don't really watch for the veins on the side of the egg, but I do mark out my line after I candle them and which is why I cut a small slit and then expand if the inner sac has separated from the egg walls...all depends on the age of the egg and temps they are cooking...

I did experiment to see if cutting the veins would cause them to exit earlier and from my limited numbers they did not...I don't know all the purpose of the veins but I can take an educated guess and say it has to do with oxygen so when I did cut the veins I cut the inner sac and made sure they were able to taste air. Only one egg this year was lost and that was twisted in her own cord and if I would have opened the egg more I might have seen it and might have been able to do something about it, but hind sight is always 20/20....

Like I said I have done stuff to eggs that would make some people cringe but I am overly curious by nature...Jay has had great success from hatching and breeding I personally choose not to follow his example, but it doesn't make it wrong just different.

I use them (easier to toss in the trash then clean over and over again the scissors that I sometimes use) and no I don't really watch for the veins on the side of the egg, but I do mark out my line after I candle them and which is why I cut a small slit and then expand if the inner sac has separated from the egg walls...all depends on the age of the egg and temps they are cooking...

I did experiment to see if cutting the veins would cause them to exit earlier and from my limited numbers they did not...I don't know all the purpose of the veins but I can take an educated guess and say it has to do with oxygen so when I did cut the veins I cut the inner sac and made sure they were able to taste air. Only one egg this year was lost and that was twisted in her own cord and if I would have opened the egg more I might have seen it and might have been able to do something about it, but hind sight is always 20/20....

Like I said I have done stuff to eggs that would make some people cringe but I am overly curious by nature...Jay has had great success from hatching and breeding I personally choose not to follow his example, but it doesn't make it wrong just different.

Thanks for sharing your methods! :yessir:
I guess I need to get over my cringe-factor when seeing quick egg slicing...I'm so new to this and all the videos I've seen of egg cutting to this point has been performed as delicately as a surgeon, which is propably going to be the method I'll try. I'll be way too nervous to do otherwise. :o

I'd like to see a video of cutting eggs that some of you guys with more experience considered to be more appropriate for comparison. I have NO experience at all, but the way he cut those eggs did make me nervous.

Having said that, sometimes someone who has done something a zillion times just has a level of speed and skill that makes them appear reckless to those who are not so well-practiced.

I'd like to see a video of cutting eggs that some of you guys with more experience considered to be more appropriate for comparison. I have NO experience at all, but the way he cut those eggs did make me nervous.

Having said that, sometimes someone who has done something a zillion times just has a level of speed and skill that makes them appear reckless to those who are not so well-practiced.

There is a confidence level there that some of us will never have...every year is a new year and you have to relearn it, just like every year having to relearn popping babies....don't do it for 9 months and damn if you don't get out of practice :cheers:

If it were me I would take my time and be gentle with them. But hey if they want to handle them like that it is their choice.

Kool