First of all, captive hatched does mean something, but not that much. These snakes still have an inherent knowledge of where they are suppose to nest in nature. Consider, without successful hatching, they would be domed quickly. So nesting is one very very important part of the existence of reptiles. Also, not only must the eggs hatch, but the offspring must hatch in an area that will support their success. They neonates must also survive. In nature, nests are placed in very particular places, they are not just scattered about.



Next, just because your nesting worked once or fifty times means its right. It only means it works until problems occur. IF you look at your nesting setup, it will have nothing in common with where those snakes nested in nature. With the exception of humidity.



For me, its a huge problem because I know the difference between a good nesting and a poor nesting. And sir, its not one degree, there are hundreds of degrees of poor nesting. Not it worked or not.



For instance, wild eggs are clumped up, that is, in a tight ball. The females curl with their vents on the inside and heads on the outside and deposit their eggs as they slowly circle around. This places the eggs in a tight ball and it creates a space between the eggs and the substrate.



In captivity, you often see eggs scattered all over a box. That is wrong. That means the female DUMPED her eggs. Not nested them. To you thats fine as long as the eggs hatch, to me it means it stressed the beans out of the female.



As I have mentioned here, females can lay the day after they shed, which means, each additional day is another day of unneeded stress.



Females have a period of time, say from 1 to 10 days after the shed to deposit the eggs. After that, it can be harmful to their health. Without question it causes unneeded weight loss. The sooner they lay them, the better it is for the female.



Anyway, just because it worked for you, does not mean its normal to the female. It merely works in an artificial way.



Whats great about this forum is, its about working and working better. On the varanid forums, total failure is commonplace and normal. So its about working or not. Here we have the luxury of not worrying about total failure and discussing what works to what works better. Cheers

[ Show Entire Thread ]