Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to check on my female ball python today before I left to take my final in Zoology...and found EGGS.

After immediately calling and texting everyone I know the awesome news, I then had the horrible thought of... I don't have an incubator!

I didn't think she was going to be laying eggs til January at the least, and due to bills, won't have money to order or build an incubator until the 22nd. What should I do? Just let mothernature do its thing for the entire incubation period, or should I order the incubator as soon as I get paid and transfer the eggs over?

In the meantime, what should I do with the female? She's on a bark/coconut husk bedding mix and she was due to be cleaned today after my final, so things are a bit dry. What I could see of the eggs is they're all white and soft looking, but I didn't want to bother her a whole lot so I didn't get a good look. Do I keep her warmer than usual, mist her/the bedding, add in damp bedding, just leave her alone?

Thanks in advance!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
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

Everybody seems to like the Hovabator brand incubator that is made for poultry eggs. I haven't gotten one yet myself, but the local Farm & Fleet sells them for about $40. As I understand it, that will work nicely for one clutch.

As far as maternal incubation (allowing the female to incubate her clutch on her own), I saw a great article once, but I can't find it right now. I did find the following links for you on the subject:

http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=incubation

http://www.geocities.com/vermont_herpetology/article2.htm

http://www.jaymartinreptiles.com/articles/maternal.pdf

I hope this helps some. I am a college student too. Finals week is not the time to get surprised with this! Good luck - with your snake and with your finals!
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

Jenny, about how long ago did you see the first copulation with your female? I'm trying to get an idea of the range of time that people are seeing between successful copulations and oviposition.

Thanks,
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

My male and female were being housed together until we started having regular drops in temperature at night, and I first saw them hook up in early September. They've been hooking up regularly every other week or so up until about the first week of November, though, so I thought I had until January to get myself an incubator.

I've decided to live on ramen noodles for the next week and just get the incubator inbetween my last final and work tomorrow. Who needs vitamins, anyway?

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
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

WOW! Is this the girl you have that was so cranky? I guess you missed the ovulation. I sorta feel bad I told you not to worry and all. Just with my experience I could always tell when their gravid just by holding them you could see it. I'm going to let mom do the job on some of my eggs this year. If you decide to go that route please keep us informed. I would like to see how it works for you. Sorry Again and good luck,
Casey

P.S. Any pics?

>>WOW! Is this the girl you have that was so cranky? I guess you missed the ovulation. I sorta feel bad I told you not to worry and all. Just with my experience I could always tell when their gravid just by holding them you could see it. I'm going to let mom do the job on some of my eggs this year. If you decide to go that route please keep us informed. I would like to see how it works for you. Sorry Again and good luck,
>> Casey
>>
>> P.S. Any pics?

I had to laugh when I got on the forum and remembered my post yesterday about how cranky my girl was. She was tellin me somethin after all!

I've never seen a gravid female before, and she looked nothing at all like the pictures I've seen online, nor did she do hardly ANY of the gravid behaviors most people talk about seeing. She definately snuck those eggs up on me. Wily beastie.

I'm a bit worried about her incubating the eggs, since she's lookin a bit thin and the weather has yet to really get cold. (Cold for California, anyway) I'm just gonna get an incubator tomorrow and live off of ramen noodles until Friday.

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
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

And nope, no pics yet, our digital camera has gone MIA
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
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