Well, its about the same, but its variable for both. With our kingsnakes, I normally place then in a nesting cage(the whole cage is a nesting area) just before they shed. But I really should place them in there sooner. As soon as I place then in their box, They make burrows, and come back up to eat for a few days, they will lay from one day to five or six after they shed. They can do down and lay within a day, or stay down for several days.

The small monitors normally dig burrows at the time they copulate, which is anywhere from 8 days to three weeks before they lay. They do can go down and nest in a day, or stay down for three days. I start to worry at about three days.

With the kingsnakes, I bury panes of glass in the substrate. they normally nest just under or between two panes of glass. This way, I get dig down to the glass and watch them nest, without disturbing them.


In this pic, the female is just starting to lay her first egg, you can see the scales distended.



This pic(cal king) is with the glass pane removed. Notice how fine and purposeful the nest is. The packing of the dirt around the eggs, so it does not touch. This too is exactly what I saw with natural kings.

I have been testing the glass pane with some monitors, with some success, but mostly they make dirt burrows. Thanks for the questions Cheers

[ Hide Replies ]

• A nesting comparison. - FR, Wed Aug 9 18:36:49 2006
• RE: A nesting comparison. - Dobry, Wed Aug 9 19:13:18 2006
• RE: A nesting comparison. - FR, Wed Aug 9 21:01:41 2006
• any other species? - mr-python, Wed Aug 9 22:12:58 2006
• RE: A nesting comparison. - HecticDialectics, Thu Aug 10 11:39:30 2006
• RE: A nesting comparison. - FR, Thu Aug 10 18:01:06 2006
• we have seen the same... - robyn@ProExotics, Thu Aug 10 16:54:31 2006
• RE: Thats funny Robyn... - FR, Thu Aug 10 17:24:12 2006
• RE: a neat pic Robyn - FR, Thu Aug 10 17:30:14 2006