You're likely going to have to tear the enclosure down to get at her and the sac. It sucks, but still be safer for you and her in the long run. She'll rebuild. Just take everything out, cup her, remove the sac, redo the enclosure, then put her back.
The cork is cut open in the back. She's never used it, except an occasional climb, and always acted fossorial. She was like that in the temp enclosure I bought her in and did the same thing in her permanent enclosure and also with her "birthing chamber".
Is it possible to remove the cork to expose her and the egg sac?
I updated the post above to not have multiple posts, but eveything is webbed to that cork, including the top of her current burrow.
It's pretty safe....there is pretty much no chance the t will leave that sac and bolt....she will most likely grip that sac all the way to the lid....I don't try to separate mom from the sac....I grab the sac and pull it out with her attached and separate her from the sac by pinching her off at the lid.
That's too bad....your job just got way harder.
Well, you're still going to have to get her out of there to catch all the slings. It sounds like it'll be a challenge, but keeping as much of the burrow intact as possible when you open it up will hopefully help contain them. I'd try to take out all the cork/plants/etc, plug up all but the main entrance to the burrow with substrate, then start removing layers around the main entrance, slowly making the opening big enough to have room to guide the female out with a paintbrush where you can catch her. Good luck!
I do see the one you are talking about there. What could I have done better if the hide were the problem? Did I let it get too dry? When I pulled open the sac to look for survivors, the center was solid and dry. Also, could I have saved that little one in an incubator?
There really isn't a way for me to determine what, if anything, you could have done better in the situation. There are too many unknown variables here for me to have confidence in an answer. The only certainty is that the male was still viable and did his job. Everything done to get her paired worked, you just need to experiment with her setup should you decide to try again
.Not likely, unless you're a skilled enough surgeon to peel a grape with tweezers. The EWL is basically stuck in its molt.
I understand it’s really impossible to say without seeing it first hand, and also knowing what happened over the month+ timeframe. I’m going to postulate lack of soil moisture/insufficient humidity as at least partial culprit based on the dry, hard, stuck together center of the sack and the EWL stuck in its molt. She had the sack fully covered, and that looks like she opened it and tossed it in the pond. I appreciate your insight and also your positivity even in difficult situations.There really isn't a way for me to determine what, if anything, you could have done better in the situation. There are too many unknown variables here for me to have confidence in an answer. The only certainty is that the male was still viable and did his job. Everything done to get her paired worked, you just need to experiment with her setup should you decide to try again
We all stumble at first. My first eggsack was eaten on day two, my second eggsack saw a 50% mortality rate, my third eggsack saw a 99.5% mortality rate, but my fourth was successful.
Not likely, unless you're a skilled enough surgeon to peel a grape with tweezers. The EWL is basically stuck in its molt.
Im sorry things did not work out the way you wished.
You could have pulled the sac early....this is the simple solution many breeders, myself included, take as a result of exactly this kind of situation.
I am so going to consider this if i ever make it to my goal to breed just once.