Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Python just layed a clutch of at least 7 good looking Huge eggs! (She did this a year ago, too, but she ended up smothering the entire clutch. (It was bad design with the nest box on my part. There was no "floor" under the nesting chamber and she dug a pit in which the eggs went down into a dip and she couldn't coil around them. Instead she ended up laying on top of them and they eventually got flattened) Anyway...She deposited them in an up-right hollow log in the corner of a big cage with a totally natural set-up. We decided to let her incubate her own eggs again after I corrected the problem from a year ago. So anyway, she's got a good clutch of eggs. However...she leaves them periodically to go lay on the basking shelf on the opposite end of the cage. (There is a heat lamp right above her nest box, too, so the temps should be the same at both locations. There is a "cool retreat area" underneath the water bowl in a different part of the cage) So far she's done this about twice a day. I finally got to see her return to the nest late last night: She crawls under the edge of the clutch and actually kind of scoops them up in her arms (well you know what I mean) and resumes a nice tight ball around them! Is this usual behavior? Every time I think she's abandoned the clutch ...she always returns to resume incubation! Also ...would she eat something while away from the nest and return with food in her belly? Was wondering if I should try and offer her a small meal. We want her to incubate her own eggs but we also want them to hatch, too without her starving! (She's thin, of course, and is in need of a meal) Anyone else have experience with this? Thanks. TJ.

She is warming her body up to transfer heat to the eggs. Dont keep the side where the eggs are at too hot because she can only warm the eggs not cool them down. This is all natural. She is just being a good mom.