Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female laid her clutch yesterday morning. She wound herself around the eggs perfectly. I checked on her/them this morning and took their temps and the eggs were hold at a temp between 88-89o.
Well tonight it appears as though she may have moved because two of the eggs were outside her coils and the temps on them were 86o and the rest 86-87o. I am kinda concerned as I have no idea how long they have been at that temp or if she is in some way abandoning the eggs???
Has any of you have a female adjust coils to adjust the temps???
What's the deal??? Should I be concerned??? I do not have an incubater any longer and was planning to maternally incubate my ball clutch(es) this year as last year I had zero problems like this.
Any help would be grateful.

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Christine
Tails With Scales Reptiles
Happiness is biting my snake back!

You may have just disturbed her. Leave her for the night and see if she has all the eggs coiled in the morning. If not, I would be concerned. Also, it does not look like you have much in the way of substrate that holds humidity. You might want to add some cypress mulch. It will hold humidity and help in "nesting".
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

How can I change to the mulch w/out really disturbing her??

As far as humidity I was going to mist her/them three times a week. That is what I did last year but I'm always willing to try something new to keep from losing the clutch.
Thank you
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Christine
Tails With Scales Reptiles
Happiness is biting my snake back!

Just add moistened mulch around her. She will gather it up around her eggs - nesting. Even if she does not, it will help maintain humidity so you will not have to bother her as often spraying.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

This is what I did last year - I removed Mom - put a towel over her and genltly lifted her off the eggs. I then put the cypress mulch around the eggs (like a nest) and the rest of the tub (I left a couple inches between the eggs and cypress (while you are doing that you can move the other two eggs back into the clutch make sure you don't turn them over or anything) then I put mom back. Also try not to mist Mom or the eggs but mist the cypress mulch as needed.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

11.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

If she does take the eggs back - then there really isn't any need to remove her from the clutch - just put a towel over her and put the cypress down.

If she doesn't take the eggs back or keeps kicking them out you might want to fire up the incubator.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

11.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

I wonder if it has anything to do with you opening and closing the bin, taking pictures of her, bothering her, disturbing her, etc etc....

In the wild, they don't expect this to happen, and in my opinion, if it came down to saving her life or the egg's lives, she choose her own life (not literally...just the biological mechanism that controls survival)...

I'd say either artificially incubate, or leave the snake alone. I don't think there is another choice.

Well I took her eggs from her and I hope that the clutch is not ruined. I am doing a make shift incubator until my new incubator gets here in a couple days.
I am sure the clutch is ruined and yes I know it's all my fault.

Just to clarify she a completely clear bin so I can peer into her bin and see w/out opening it. So I apologize for relaying that info incorrectly.

My fingers are crossed prayers are said but I am still expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
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Christine
Tails With Scales Reptiles
Happiness is biting my snake back!

Good job though! Smart idea to put it under your control.

But yeah, they won't be ruined. I've exposed them to 75F, dropped them, rolled them, soaked them, dried them out, etc etc.

You'll be just fine, but keep us updated.

"soaked them"

hey i did that...
Seriously,my first clutch(last season)survived for their first two weeks in an igloo cooler with heat tape on the sides.When i swapped them over i was horrified to discover that 3 to 5 of them were drenched from sitting below the water level(don't ask lol).They all hatched fine...
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Its not ideal, but they ARE resilient!