Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello i found a speckeled king snake a few weeks ago and i looked as if a cat had gotten ahold of it so i tookit in and clened its wonds and treated them with repti wound. any way i was keeping it until its wounds healed and well last night it laied seven eggs. and well i need to know should i let them alone and let the mother hatch the eggs or should i use a incubator? please help if you can.
Thanks,
Kevin

i would use an incubator. The guys can help you out on how to set it up.

Use virmiculite with water, 2:1 by weight.
Hopefully the eggs have not attached to each other, they are easier to hatch if you can separate them.

Do not turn them over.

What I did ages ago - ceramic bowl, with the mixture, make depressions to put the eggs in, put suran wrap over the bowl (it should NOT touch the eggs) but have a few holes poked in the wrap.

Put a thermometer in the bowl, temp should be ~ 85F or so.

I used a light bulb to warm them. Watch the temperature.

Twice a day I would lift the suran wrap to let it breath, and if the eggs started to cave, I used a spray bottle with pure water to remoisten the vermiculite.

This worked extremely well for my lizards and turtle eggs, worked so so for my snake eggs (only about 50% hatch ratio).

If you can afford a real incubator - buy one, but do something like I suggested soon so that they don't die while you set it up. Watch the temp closely so they don't get too hot.

Big Apple herp has some incubators you can get mail order via their website if a local supplier doesn't carry them. But you need to do something soon, even if makeshift, or you'll lose the clutch.

Don't turn them over. You can get vermiculite at any garden store. 2:1 by weight with water.

Oh - I haven't bred for years, so if someone who has says something different, trust them - not me.

Like the others have said place them in a vermiculite/water mixture. Keep the vermiculite moist, not soaking wet.

Make a depression in the vermiculite and place the eggs in there. I sometimes place a damp paper towel over the eggs. They can easily be hatched in a small shoebox or plastic container on a shelf in your house. Just place them in a warm room and check the moisture of the vermiculite every day or two. Before I got an incubator I had 90-100% hatch rate out of every holbrooki clutch I hatched. This is the exact method I used. I never even bothered checking the temps. These things are plenty capable of temp fluctuation despite what some might say. If they were that sensitive to change I would have failed miserably at hatching them, but I haven't. Just make sure it is slightly warmer than room temp....~80 .

Where are you located BTW?