Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone tried the no-subsrate incubation that the ball python guys are useing? it sounds like a great way to incubate but was wondering if it works with all eggs or if its just the balls that it seems to work with?
adam
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I remember someone mentioning using that method last year but I have no idea who it was. Sorry.
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As I understand it, no substrate means just that, or at most, a damp paper towel on top of the eggs, and 100% humidity.

Way back I used damp paper towels tucked around eggs (in a closed container) when incubating. These were bullsnake eggs instead of corn snake eggs, though. Later, by experiment, I found that Vermiculite worked better for bullsnake eggs than paper towels.

Ball pythons use maternal incubation in the wild, and the eggs seldom touch the ground. North American colubrids mostly do not use maternal incubation. The eggs are touching the soil all the time. I think that pythons using maternal incubation have eggs that are more efficient at absorbing water than eggs that incubate in/on soil. And because of the different efficiencies at absorbing water, using Vermiculite for python eggs can drown the embryos. While not using a substrate lets most colubrid eggs dry out.

Paul Hollander

I used no substrate many years ago and it worked pretty well. What I did was fill a sweater box 1/4 full of water. Then I floated 1" styrofoam on it, and put the eggs on the stryrofoam. Then put on the lid, and presto, very high humidity and nothing touching the eggs...I remember it working pretty well, but in the last several years I have used a heavy, course vermiculite rather than that tiny stuff they sell in the little bags at HOme Depot, etc. This heavy course vermiculite you can buy at some garden/nursery stores, and it allows a lot of air around the eggs and works quite well, Brad Lichtenhan