Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boyfriend really wants to raise a ball python from an egg. He doesn't really have the time and money to invest in breeding (does any college student?) but he's in love with my ball python that he's watching for me, and would love to raise his own. His uncle raised a black russian rat snake that way.

Would it be possible to get an egg from a breeder, or is the incubation process to delicate to interrupt? Should he just try to get a hatchling?

Any feedback is appreciated.

An egg is very delicate, and would be very hard to keep alive if you even managed to get one. You would need an incubator, not move it at all from where you got it from to where you were going, and be able and aware of how to control the temps and humidity to allow the snakeling to hatch.
It is a difficult process, so I would suggest getting a hatchling and raising it up. Even that can be and is a challenge in itself.

Just my two cents..
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www.HeathersHerps.com

-Ohh, what a Lady-

Balls for Life, Baby!

what if he was able to get a loose egg that was on day 55 or 56 and hasnt hatched yet and due to hatch any day??

it is possible to move the eggs if your carefull. we have taken early clutches from our incubater and moved them in the last few days of incubation. to glass front incubaters for display at our childrens schools. so the children could watch them hatch. now balls and carpets will do ok, but burms and other truely maternaly incubated species will not. james
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IT'S NOT A HOBBY, IT'S A LIFESTYLE......

Better off just getting a hatchling. There's a lot that can go wrong with an egg, regardless of success that others have had, and for your own sake it's just easier to get a hatchling that's already started eating. It's not too hard to find a hatchling, but good luck convincing a breeder to give you just one egg

~jenny
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1.1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (tetris)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

Tell you what, you send me money in advance, and I'll breed a normal ball python pair and ship you the entire clutch of eggs on any day you choose from Day 1 to the end of incubation.

Seriously, you could do what you ask, with preparation, but you would probably need to find someone local and go pick up the egg(s).

Someone delivered a clutch of eggs to me years ago when their son's "male" ball python surprised them. It was a really cold Chicago day and they all piled into their car and drove several miles to my house, bringing an aquarium, snake and eggs for my inspection. I kept the eggs and put them in my incubator. They did fine. I still have one of the offspring.

Also, the common wisdom about them being so delicate intrigued me back in the 1980's. I took a large clutch of Burmese python eggs and separated out 2 groups of 10 each for manipulation. One group I rotated 180 degrees every 5 days (i.e., turned the eggs upside down). With the other group I rotated each egg 360 degrees on its long axis four times every 5 days (i.e., rolled them). The results? Only two failed to hatch.

-Joan