Just to start off, we have an entire rack dedicated to nesting for gravid females. The nesting bin consists of 4 to 5 inches of densely packed coco peat and a plastic lid that sits on top of the nesting substrate with a hole cut so the female can access the nesting area. This offers the female a much wider range of options than she would get in her regular rack draw with an added nest box.



Looks like this.







So, here are the first results I am reporting on this method.



So the female was nosing around the set up constantly going in and out of the hole in the plastic. She was obviously testing the nesting area and looking for a good spot with the right conditions to lay them. Or so we thought...



From what we have observed over the last couple of days, it seems like hognose snake like to escivate and build their own nests.



This particular female moved all of the coco peat from the back of the bin to the front.



This is what the set up looked like before the eggs were recovered.







When we lifted the plastic cover, eggs were not visible. The only reason we knew they were laid was because of how thin the female was compared to the previous night. LOL.



So we dug away some of the surprisingly densely packed coco peat and found the first few eggs about 2 inches under the surface.







The female nested these eggs all together and actually packed the coco peat around the eggs. Total count, 12 laid, 12 fertile. All have the bullseye but no vascular system yet. A good sign that the eggs were not being retained longer than they should. Not a bad start of the hog season...



All safely tucked in a SIM container sitting at 82ish degrees...

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