A lot will depend on the species of python you are dealing with. For wet tropical climate python species, water dripping on the eggs will have absolutely no detrimental effect on the eggs. This would only be a possible issue with more sub-tropical or drier climate species depending on the actual amount of water involved. I have seen the eggs of wet tropical species hatch even when setting in a few millimeters of water, although that would not be recommended as standard procedure. I use mainly maternal incubation with wet tropical climate species and routinely spray water across the backs of the incubating females every few days. It is obvious in their natural environment that these females would be exposed to frequent rainfall events.

As far as correcting the moisture build up under the lid, angling the container as Tom suggested would work to eliminate most of the dripping problem. With regards to the reasons behind the build up of condensation, this has nothing to do with actual temperature, but everything to do with temperature differential. The humidity difference between the exterior of the egg container and the interior will not case this problem, and would only be a very minor part of the issue only if both were near 100%. However, if you are having a fair temperature differential between the exterior and interior of the egg container, then you will have significant condensation at interior humidity levels nearing 100%. The main cause of the excess build up of condensation you are seeing however, is most likely the evaporative surface you are using within this incubation system. If overly wet, the perlite, and most definitely the sponges, will have a significantly large evaporative surface and wick large amounts of water vapor into the interior air beyond the saturation point. If the exterior temperature of the container is even slightly below that of the super saturated interior air, you will then start to see significant condensation development on the interior of the container, the amount increasing with an increasing differential. To help resolve the condensation issue, either increase ventilation very slightly, use less water in the perlite, equalize the interior and exterior temps, or remove the sponges and let the water evaporate directly from the water surface. Evaporation from the water surface alone is the least efficient evaporative process due to the surface tension and will help avoid super saturation of the interior air. Either way, you will obviously need to monitor the interior humidity to make sure it doesn’t fall too low.

Tom also had two other questions that were important. At what day in the incubation period were these eggs first noticed to be going bad, and were they checked for embryos? I know this is not always possible to determine, but if embryos were found, were they well formed and symmetrical, or did they show possible deformities?

Kelly

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