Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female Mocquards is laying her eggs as we speak and I could really use some help. I bought my pair of mocquards from someone I met on this very forum a few years back. Since then they have grown into healthy happy adults. I never really thought about breeding them seriously, but a short while ago I realized my female was pregnant. I made her a special box with moss to lay her eggs in which she is doing now, but I don't really know what my next step should be. Do Mocquards females guard their eggs? Mine seems to be. How long should I wait for her to finish before I take them away and put them in an incubator? I haven't been able to find any information specific to Mocquards regarding incubator temperatures and humidity levels. If anyone could help me out or point me to a resource online or a book, I would really appreciate it. I have a basic book on rat snakes, but it's kind of lacking info on hatching eggs and beauty snakes in general.

Hey Russell,
I would go ahead and take them away from her as soon as she finishes laying. They will stay with them breifly but just while resting and dont really take care of them. A moist incubating medium of your choice (I use vermiculite) will work but I have found that they do best for me if what ever they are incubating in is slightly damp but not too wet. I incubate them at 79 to 80 degrees and 100% humidity. At that temp they will generally hatch in a little over 60 days, maybe as many as 70.
Hope this helps. Randy W.

Thanks for the info, it does help. Where can I buy vermiculite? Is is a pet store thing or something I would find at a nursery. I've heard of people using peet moss as well, would that work too? That temperature range is only slightly warmer than my apartment, so it shouldn't be too hard to maintain that. How long does it take them to finish laying once they start? I'd hate to disturb her before she's done.

You can pick up vermiculite in the garden dept in Lowes or at some plant nursery stores. You can use spagnum moss too.
It usually takes them less than 24 hours to lay their entire clutch but can take longer especially of some eggs are bad. Randy

She laid three total and they are huge. I can't imagine how she got them out. They look healthy and are really heavy for their size, but these being my first, I don't really have much to compare them to. Two are stuck together but I didn't try pulling them apart for fear of damaging them. I'm using some moss in a tupperware in a small terrarium with a red light to achieve 80 degrees. Humidity stays above 80% pretty much, but I'm afraid of getting too much moisture on the eggs themselves. Should I be worried about that? I try to put water in so it goes to the bottom and the moss keeps the eggs from getting directly wet. Other than the humidity guage, I can tell there's moisture from the condensation on the sides of the clear tupperware.

DAMMIT i have enough snakes, Stop posting pictures of those beautiful snakes already, I MAY HAVE to get a few LOL

Any more albino pics????? (twitches slightly)
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Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological Frank Roberts & John Rodriguez

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Roberts'Realm of Reptile Research

Dont fight it Frank. lol

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Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological Frank Roberts & John Rodriguez

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Roberts'Realm of Reptile Research