Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I'm primarily a Boa hobbyist, but I have had a Pac Gopher (wc)for 4 years, and last year I saved another one from certain death in the hibernatiion season. I hibernated them this last winter, and introduced them together after a few meals, not even knowing what sex they were. They mated, and yesterday she had 5 eggs, (one was a little stretched). Well, I know alot about Boa Constrictor care, but I don't have any knowledge in egg layers. I have searched and found care sheets, on colubrids in general, but I'm not confident in myself to bring them through.
I've kept the eggs in with the mother. The temps are 77-82 on the eggs. The heat is being provided by a CHE on a thermostat. with the probe next to the eggs. The eggs (and mom) are in a sterlite tub with a hole in the lid. The tub is in a 25 gal aquarium. To get humidity, I took the lid off of the tub and sprayed water up in the air (away from the cage), and let the mist lightly cover the inside of the lid. Unfortunately the substrate in the tub is aspen. The mom has pushed it aside so the eggs are mostly on the plastic.
My questions are mostly on wondering the best way to monitor them and care for them without high dollar equipment. I was advised to leave them with their mother. I've also been to a colubrid breeders house a few years ago who would place all of his eggs in tubs with paper towels on the bottom, and another paper towel on top (lightly sprayed), and simply kept on a shelf under a light bulb and that was it .
Questions:
-How long until they should hatch?
-Should I keep them with the mom?
- should I add a little spagnum moss?
- should I try to handle them and place them on vermiculite?(scares me to handle them)
- any other advise is welcome.

One other odd question -- what is opinions on what to do with the babies, both ethically and legally? If they are captive born, would they survive if I turned them loose? Is it legal to sell them? I'm not in this for money in any way, but I'm mostly wanting to do the right thing with the babies.
----Here's the eggs, the front one was a little thin-shelled like it was stretched.

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I'm just the snake room janitor

I would set the eggs up better than that. As far as I am aware Pits don't maternally incubate and the simplest way to incubate them would be like this.
Get a 6 quart container and put a 1 eigth of an inch hole near the top of the box on the 2 smaller sides of the box. Get either perlite of vermiculite and soak it in water, then one fistful at a time squeeze the majority of the wayer out leaving it very damp but not dripping wet. Put a few inches of it in the container and put the eggs on top mostly exposed, do not bury them. If your snake room for the boas is at least 78 degrees just find a spot for them in there, if not find a closet in your house where you can put them on the top shelf...they do not have to be too warm. If you had an incubator 82 degrees would be a good temp but low 70s is still most likely sufficient to hatch them. I am guessing they will dry out within 48 hours if you leave them the way you have them, but that is only a guess. If you have more questions feel free to email me at TomsSnakes@gmail.com Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

Where do you live? I believe it is illegal to release cb to the wild in most states, California for sure. You need a permit to sell them but I think you can give them to a reptile shop without needing a permit.

I've heard of colubrid eggs hatching without an incubator, so long as the temp stays in the high 70's pretty constantly. Put some moist sphagnum moss under them and check on them frequently to make sure they dont dry out.
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It's just like the story of the grasshopper and the octopus. All year long the grasshopper stored up acorns for winter, while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched tv. And then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus stole all his acorns, and he got a race car. Is any of this sinking in?

dude you are off the wall.but thank God for race cars and snakes.