Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does the hole in the box have to be on the top or the side or does it really matter?
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Josh Delaney

Delaney Colubrids

..and I don't know the answer. I used to use rubbermaid shoeboxes with the hole cut on top but the snakes like to lay underneath it. Then I tried milk cartons and gallon water jugs. Still the snakes want to lay outside of the boxes. All they liked to use them for was to deficate... I guess that tells me what they think of my "nesting" arrangement.

Now I use either no lay box or just wood board. I figured after collecting thousands of eggs off the shavings why should I knock myself out with a lay box.

Others I have talked to do not have this experience so take mine with a grain of salt. Maybe its the humididy in my snake room during the hot georgia summer months that have something to do with it.

Like "Bluerosey" stated, it really doesn't make much of a difference, top, side, whatever....some will use it, some won't. Many times when it gets close to the due date I'll put a box of spagnum moss in without ANY lid to make it real easy to get in.....other times, when it gets real close, I'll just put a big pile of it in half of the cage without any container at all!. The main thing is, as long as you keep checking for the eggs every day when it gets real close to laying, how bad can they really get in that amount of time anyway?....that's really the bottom line.....it's really not a huge deal as long as you keep checking things out........one good word of advise though!!, sometimes snakes will lay their eggs in the waterbowl(they figure it's more humid there!!LOL)...so when it gets real close to time, I usually take them out altogether. Maybe putting it in once in a while just for a while just to be on the safe side...........good luck!!................................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Laying in the water bowl, from what I've read anyway, typically only happens if there is not another humdid place to lay them.

Last year I used a sterilite 12qt tub and did not cut a hole, just set the lid ajar, and she used it.

FR has a really neat technique that makes a lot of sense but I haven't tried it.

Someone last year posted about a pet shop that would just put a gravid female into a tank filled with moss. She'd bury in it, lay eggs, and surface. A couple months later, the babies would surface.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Your right it is a good question..

I use plastic boxes with a hole cut in the top OR in the side & my results have been good either way.

I fill the box half way with damp vermiculite & they lay in the box just about all the time.. Also, I use a much greater mixture of water to vermiculite in the lay box as compaired to the incubation box though.

Last year i had 100% success & the year before that i had only one female lay outside the box?

I ALWAYS remove the water bowl prior to laying.. Many years ago one of my females left the nesting box & layed in the water bowl & i lost just about the whole clutch.. Only the eggs above the water survived.

Good luck!

~ Mike Russo

I wonder if something like a poultry water dish that would allow her to drink but not get inside it would be a good idea then.

I'll see what my local farm supply has - I don't want to lose eggs but I also don't want to deny water from a laying snake.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

You could try that or just use a very small water bowl that she will not be able to lay in.

~ Mike

Thanks for all the input guys Its very helpful
Thanks again
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Josh Delaney

Delaney Colubrids

considering that dehydration and lack of a secure place to lay eggs are the primary causes of egg retention in females I would say that things could get pretty bad. This is the number one killer of adult snakes.

I always use a dark nest box filled with spagnum. My females always use it 100% of the time for laying. I have never had a snake lay in the water bowl in 14 years, and I have never removed it. The ONLY eggbound female I EVER had was the first year I tried breeding snakes when I did NOT use a proper nest box. A CLEAR SIDED NEST BOX DOES NEXT TO NOTHING!

To each their own I guess, but I consider a good egg box to be a priority in my females cages.

My openings are on the side, because I have found that the snakes find them faster this way, but I don't really think it matters.

Posted by: zach_whitman at Fri Mar 23 05:03:49 2007 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

My openings are on the side, because I have found that the snakes find them faster this way, but I don't really think it matters.

I agree with you Zach 100%. Nesting and the process the females go through to find a suitable spot is very important. I have only been doing the "no nest box" routine for the last couple seasons and I have had three eggbound snakes and several others that had bad clucthes that were probably good at one time.

What is strange is ALL my snakes do not lay in nesting boxes. They always like to push the shavings aside and lay under the box and directly on the plastic bottom of the rubbermaid.

One question for Zach and others. Do your snakes usually deficate in their nesting boxes a day or two before laying? This is usually a large amount and renders the nesting substrate unusable. It makes it hard and expensive to change every box I have twice and thats another eason I don't like using nesting boxes.

I would imagine that the board method you mentioned would work pretty well as long as you give the substrate a good spray before putting it down. Anything that gives them security, darkness, and humidity fulfills my requirements.

None of my animals defecate regularly in any of their hides, including the nest box, although on occasion it has happened.

All of the nest boxes you mentioned had clear or semiclear sides, have you ever tried solid colored ones? Also, I don't breed any eastern species, so they might have slightly different egg laying preferences then my cals. dunno.

All of the nest boxes you mentioned had clear or semiclear sides, have you ever tried solid colored ones?

Can you give an example of a cheap and avaliable source for solid colored plastic containers?

The Container Store has some solid shoebox sized plastic boxes. I have seen them in there each time I go. Sizes may vary though.
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Genesis 1:1

Too expensive. The container store is about the most expensive place for containers. Actaully it is the most expensive store ANYWHERE if you consider their markup. If I pick up 300 boxes I will probably have to spend $2250.00. If I get 500 $3750.00

But I would like to hear more on the photo supply store.

Anyone esle got any ideas for solid color nesting boxes??

good discussions here....how about duct tape around a regular(clear) nesting box,that's what i was thinking.
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"with head raised regally,and gazing at me with lidless eyes,he seemed to question with flicks of his long forked tongue my right to trespass on his territory" Carl Kauffeld

Thats sound like a more economicl idea especially since I have stacks of showboxes. What I nned to find is tape the is dark on the sticky side or maybe use black spraypaint.

Try a photo supply store - they often sell dark plastic boxes intended for photo storage.
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3.6 L. getula californiae
1.1 L. getula nigrita
1.0 Boa constrictor constrictor (suriname, fostering/rescue)
2.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Photo supply//? like a place that sells cameras?

You know I have found everything I ever needed for breeding snakes for free or very cheap, like clearance prices at Home Depot, Lowes, Big Lots ect,. I pick stuff up from construction sites. Get my shaving cheap ect. But I have yet to find a good black or brown laybox. We used to use 1/2 gallon milk cartons but they where white and had a wxy coating which didn't last. plus they were to small. I can't think of anything that would make a good laybox. Something we all have access to for free, cheap or is tossed in the trash that can be a nest box.

Here’s an idea for you if you’re looking at buying that many containers, if you haven’t seen these guys before.

www.webstaurantstore.com

They sell cases of containers like for pies and take out food. They are pretty cheap and basically disposable. As a herper, you’ll be checking out all the ways you can use some of those containers, hides, water bowls, nest box, etc.

Look for the Take Out Containers

They have black 12 oz deli cups with lids in a case of 250 for $29.99
Same thing in clear is $34.49 for 500. The lids are $29.99 sold separately.

They have a clamshell container that is 9.5 x 10.5 and just over three inches tall, black bottom and clear top. You could cut an entry in the lid. They’re only .49 each in a case of 100. Might not be big enough for a big king female, but plenty for milks and smaller types.

Check this out

I've got the clam shell containers but will compare the prices of the deli cups with my regular supplier which is superior enterprises in Calif.

Thanks!

they tend to run on the pricey side.... great product but wouldn't be very economical.

i've seen some solid colored rubbermaid containers at target in the kids school supply section...

I/m off to Targert tommorow to check them out. I will post pics here if I get any.

why don't you guys hit places like walmart and kmart around the time school starts up again in the fall and find cheap containers on clearance? and I don't know if it'd be practical dependin on some locations, but here in redneck central it always seems like someones havin a yard sale if its warm out...
just a thought....

Nope I can't. Not to buy at least. You really wouldn't think a solid plastic box would be so hard to come by but they are.

I duct tape most of mine. I have painted plenty as well. If you have tons of boxes, just paint em, it works great.

Just curious, how many breeding females do you have?

Just curious, how many breeding females do you have?

Not as many as I used to when last summer my ex wife took off (and destroyed or released) $65,000.00 of my snakes.

Still TMTC

Not as many as I used to when last summer my ex wife took off (and destroyed or released) $65,000.00 of my snakes.

damn... I think I'd have killed someone over that... I've had one man threaten Spot, and I told him the snake was here before he was, so Spot stays no matter what... he got pissed and I threw him out of my house and haven't spoke to him since...
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Depends on where you live I suppose (like Bluerosy in Georgia, likely no shortage of humidity there), but you hit it. Where I live, humidity can be low, and a LARGE nest site is a necessity.

I tried shoeboxes, but the females still seemed restless in searching for a place to lay. Then I tried doing what someone else had mentioned here, put the snake in a cage filled with sphagnum - damp on one end and dry on the other. Let her decide where to lay eggs. Works very well. Keeps her hydrated and the eggs.
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Mark

I tried doing what someone else had mentioned here, put the snake in a cage filled with sphagnum - damp on one end and dry on the other. Let her decide where to lay eggs. Works very well. Keeps her hydrated and the eggs

I tried that several times and the snakes were very very nervous. Matter of fact both snakes that got eggbound last year were placed in seater boxes filled with sphagnum. Maybe coincidence but the snakes kept crawling around and were pitiful looking covered in sphagnum. SO I stopped that method.

I've had the same experience with that method.
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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com

Ya I think the sphagnum drove them nuts and thats why they didn't lay.

I used a large aquarium (36 gal I think, large for the snake) with some coconut fiber subtsrate and then a thick layer of spagnum. Partial screen top.

>>A CLEAR SIDED NEST BOX DOES NEXT TO NOTHING!

Please don't let my snakes know that. In well over a decade with a colony that ranged up to 450 breedersm I have only used translucent next boxes. I've also never had one lay in the water bowl - ever. I can't even think of a case where the female didn't lay in the box UNLESS the eggs were bad. I've found infertile eggs in odd places (never a water bowl), but who cares about that? I think I've had one female I'd say was really suffering from dystocia years ago, but she never was able to produce good eggs, anyway. That's another story, though.

KJ
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KJUN Snakehaven

I use a dark colored rubbermaid with the hole on the side. I don't think where the hole is makes much of a difference, but I do think that they prefer a dark damp place to lay.
Works for me at least..

byron.d