Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 11 eggs that were just laid on 5/9. I counted forward 63 days (going by a 9wk average) and discovered that I will be on vacation. Bummer! I have a great pet sitter who is an experienced breeder, so I'm not concerned about the eggs. The problem is that this is my first clutch of snake eggs (we're lizard breeders) and the whole family is looking forward to being home for the big event. We'll be gone from day 57-day 67. I had been entertaining the idea of incubating the eggs at room temp to prolong the hatching date until we arrived home. Any thoughts? Room temp in our house runs from 77 (A/C setting) to the low 80's in our Florida room. We're in Central FL, so room temp is still pretty warm in our house.

Thanks,
Laura

No,.....there wouldn't be a problem if you wanted to prolong the incubation a bit until you got back. I usually go for a
"target" temp. of 81-82.

They will do just fine in those temps you said your house stays in(77-low 80's),....81-84 deg. will put you about exactly around 59-62(give or take), and upper 70's will give you some extra days, maybe a week or so of extra time before they hatch.

It's always been my belief that slightly cooler is safer than being too warm!,.....I don't like going beyond about the 84 degree mark, as much further than that could be asking for problems......I'm not saying eggs WON'T, or haven't been hatched at those higher temps.!,.....it's just my opinion that it's a little safer for the developing embryo, and less risk of neonatal problems after hatching.
Some have found that the hatchlings were slightly more robust when hatched at slightly lower temps!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I had a year when incubation temps averaged 80 or below most of the time...all clutches took aprox. 70-75 days to hatch and I had a lot of kinked babies.

I wouldn't recommend it. Aim for 80-84 degrees and let them hatch while you're gone.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike Heinrich
mike@amazontreeboa.org
www.boakingdom.com

>>I had a year when incubation temps averaged 80 or below most of the time...all clutches took aprox. 70-75 days to hatch and I had a lot of kinked babies.
>>
>>I wouldn't recommend it. Aim for 80-84 degrees and let them hatch while you're gone.
>>-----

wow, that is very interesting. It has been assumed that incubation temperatures too high could cause kinks. It would also seem that too low of temps could do the same.
This is something we really need to do more research on.
We need to get a few experimental groups next season to test both scenarios.
A few of us need to incubate at relatively higher temps 87 to 90 and a few need to incubate at lower temps 76 to 80 and see what results we get.
It could definitely prove beneficial in the long run.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

For what it's worth, I set corn snake, fox snake and bullsnake eggs at 90 F during the day and turn the power off at night so the temperature drops into the 70s F. I've gotten one kinked bullsnake baby. On the other hand, I've only incubated a couple of hundred eggs.

Paul Hollander

Sorry to hear about the kinks. Hey Draybar, I incubate my cornsnakes in a university setting where I have access to extremely accurate incubators. I incubate my corns at 26C (78F) and have never had a problem with kinking. I am also currently experimenting with a 26C (78F) day time temperature with a night time drop down to 21F (70F). I haven't gone with lower temps yet than 26C but I am thinking about trying it to determine an absolute minimum.

>>>>I had a year when incubation temps averaged 80 or below most of the time...all clutches took aprox. 70-75 days to hatch and I had a lot of kinked babies.
>>>>
>>>>I wouldn't recommend it. Aim for 80-84 degrees and let them hatch while you're gone.
>>>>-----
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>wow, that is very interesting. It has been assumed that incubation temperatures too high could cause kinks. It would also seem that too low of temps could do the same.
>>This is something we really need to do more research on.
>>We need to get a few experimental groups next season to test both scenarios.
>>A few of us need to incubate at relatively higher temps 87 to 90 and a few need to incubate at lower temps 76 to 80 and see what results we get.
>>It could definitely prove beneficial in the long run.
>>-----
>>Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
>>"Resistance is futile"
>>Jimmy Johnson
>>(Draybar)
>> Draybars Snakes
>>
>>_____
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Snake Inventory
1.2 Bairds Rat Snake
5.11 Ball Pythons
1.3 Boa Constrictors
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
0.2 Cal Kings
1.2 Carpet Pythons
26.38.4 Corn Snakes
1.2 Dumerils Boa
1.0 Eastern Fox Snake
1.1 Green Tree Pythons
1.0 Grey Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Hog Island Boa
1.3 Jallisco Milksnake
1.3 Kenyan Sand Boas
1.1 Mandarin Rat Snake
1.3 Mexican Black Kingsnake
0.0.1 Northern Water Snake
1.1 Red Milksnake
1.1 Ruthvens Kingsnake
2.5 San Luis Potosi Kingsnake
1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2 Taiwan Beauty
5.5 Western Hognose

I had a year when incubation temps averaged 80 or below most of the time...all clutches took aprox. 70-75 days to hatch and I had a lot of kinked babies.

I wouldn't recommend it. Aim for 80-84 degrees and let them hatch while you're gone.

Interesting...I hatch out at room temp (usually around 73-75) and had only one kinked baby (from a second clutch that had issues anyway). All of ours hatched out nice and big and ate for us. At that temp they take around 90 days to hatch out but the longer incubation time is fine with me.

~Katie
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too many Corns
1.3 Columbian Red Tail Boa (Abu, Jasmine, Princess, and Baby)
1.0 Burmese Python (Merlin)
2.3 Western Hognose (Stumpy, Sir Hiss, Lizi, Nozi, and Gabbi)
0.2.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and 3 babies)
0.1 Pac Man Frogs (Gordito)
0.2 Sulcatta Tortoise (Shelly and Tails)
2.4 Ball Pythons (Fluffy, Fred, ?, Betty, Aurora, and Zoey)

First off...notice the smiley face as on the other forum

I agree with Doug I would recommend cooler temps as compared to higher temps. In the 90's when I used to use a Big Apple incubator it was set at 82 degrees 24/7 and my snakes hatched out at 60 days for years. Then I started using my snake room temps to incubate my eggs, mid 70's at night to mid 80's during the daytime for extremes. With the majority of the time around 80 degrees. My clutches average hatch times went to 65-70 days with a few past 70 days. Bigger babies - no kinks.

I've never experienced kinks on lower incubation temps. This of course covers around 5,000 hatchlings. All colubrids, mostly kings, milks, and corns and few pituophis. I think that those numbers represent a good starting base.

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

Kirby,........Yes!,...I see the "smiley faces"!LOL

Everything's cool here,....hope it is with you as well!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I hate when I mispell names!...it's embarrasing!LOL

happy herping dude!

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I get that all the time...and it's only a nickname.

I apologize to you for my rant on the other forum.

Kerby...
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Lonesome Valley Reptiles
www.lonesomevalleyreptiles.com
Specializing In California Kingsnakes

ok the recomended temp for icubating corns is between 80 ans 83 degrees. it would be possible to stretch out the incubation time, but it could still happen early. BUT you have to keep in mind that it can cause a shift in color and or pattern in a lot of snakes, so if you will be selling them down the road you will need to be honest and mention the temps were lowered and that might be why the color/pattern is weird, not genetics. You will also need to take in to account what type of incubator you are using, if it is a hovabator it is best to get the temps closer to 80 as the temp inside the incubator will rise with higher temps. I hope this helps you can email me and we could talk more if wanted... deniseshaffer_2004@yahoo.com I have hatched out a few snakes eggs but have more experience with bearded dragons, I had 2 clutches of corns a year ago... good luck!