Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am so excited. This is my first clutch ever. When I got up this morning, I had this waiting for me. My 100% het albino female laid a beautiful clutch from my albino male. I don't know how many eggs are there - I think I can see 5 - all look good as far as I can tell. The mom will be incubating these herself so i didn't think I should disturb her just to get a count and weigh the clutch. Those of you who do maternal incubation - does it stress the female out if you take the eggs away from the female for a few minutes to count, weigh and inspect? Now the 60 day wait begins . . . .

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Alice Cobb

Congrats! the first clutch is really exciting. The amazing thing is that everytime you open a cage and find a female wrapped around plump white eggs, it is verrrrrry exciting.

Sincerely, Kyle

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Kyle J. Stevens
Royal Variations Ltd.

Many a false step is made from standing still.

Congratulations...... Geez that's one pretty albino

Neil Golli

Congrats,
And lets hope they all turn out to be Albinos.

Congratulations,
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Tim and Monica Bailey
Bailey & Bailey Reptiles

I don't know anybody who doesn't use an incubator. Congrats on your first.
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Jesse

Great work Alice! Welcome to the club.
Spider het albinos next?

Good luck with that clutch!
Chris
www.SimoneReptiles.com

n/p
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Alice Cobb

Good luck with them. I was hoping someone would know the info on your question. I'm planing to try maternal incubation myself. I figure it'll probably be best to just leave her to her thing.
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3.4 Normal Ball pythons (Hoss, Little Man, Adam, Helen, Annabel Lee and the new girls who gets named when they eat)
0.2 Snow corns (Legolas, Eurydice)
1.0 Amel het charcoal (Orlando)
1.0 Hypo het anery het Amel (Antony)
0.1 Amel het Stripe (Cleopatra)
1.0 Caramel Motley poss het Amel (Flick)
0.1 Amber (Amberly)
0.1 Normal Cal King snake (Sidhe which sounds exactly like "she"
0.0.1 GTP (Kissy the Red)
1.1 Haitian Boa (Enkil and Akasha)

And bunches of furry pets

the wait ...........................................................................................................................................
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

No doubt...i'm getting grey hairs over here!(At least,i'm going to blame that on them for now.)

Congrats Alice!
I hope you get to see plenty of little white noses poking out.
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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.

Congrats Alice!!!

Boy that is exciting - many many congrats!!!

I would leave her be - last season when I did my first clutch MI style I was in and out of the tub all the time changed the substrate, checked and candled eggs, etc. and Mom was fine with it when I was done she went right back to sitting on them they all hatched out perfect.

This year my first clutch hit the ground and everything was going smoothly for two weeks - then one day mom got off the eggs and never went back on them. First time jitters aside - I was for the most part just leaving her to her duties and can't pinpoint anything in particular that was done that would make her not want to sit on the eggs. But it happened - maybe she just wasn't the maternal type. Maybe it was temperment - so I would recommend just leaving her where she is just to be on the safe side.

She may leave them to get something to drink or adjust her self occassionally - if so you can take a peak at the eggs and see how they are doing.

Hope it helps -
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
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
0.0.1 Lizards of unknown origin

Thanks for your insights Tosha. I was fully committed to maternal incubation after reading about your positive experiences last year and then Bob Clark's March 2006 article in Reptiles magazine. I started to panic though when your female moved off her clutch earlier this year and a few others posted similar experiences.

I've now ordered a small incubator from Nature's Spirit - it should arrive later this week. But, because of the set up and timing, I think we'll leave this first clutch with mom the whole 60 days. So, I'll get to experience both maternal incubation and using an incubator my first year. . . I wouldn't have necessarily chosen to do this, but you gotta be flexible when breeding balls.
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Alice Cobb

Congrats!

I think it causes more stress leaving her on the eggs for 60 days then it does to pull them away from her....but that's an ongoing debate. I wouldn't recommend her being on substrate that looks like a flooded jungle floor either( aspen or mulch that is too wet ). Not saying you do, but, newspaper is better. And better yet, is a hovabator. Small investment considering what the eggs are worth.

First clutch ever is the most exciting ... good luck
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gail

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SBF