Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my adult female burgundy ball that i got a few weeks ago just dropped an egg i didnt know she was gravid or anything when i got her the person i got her from did tell me they had her with a male but he did tell me she was gravid. i have never bred snakes bedore so i really dont know what to do i dont think the egg will make it due to me not haveing everything needed xecept an incubator so please let me know what i should do thanks

she is still dropping eggs there are 2 out and she is still preety big

Get her a moist hide/egg laying bin. Then leave her with teh eggs while you get an incubator set up. Mom will incubate eggs just fine on her own till you are ready to incubate them yourself.

Looks like the female is indeed gravid, and the person you bought her from missed it.

Do a search on build your own incubator, you find tons of them out there. It only takes about 20 minutes to set up an incubator, once you have everything you need. OR you can buy a hova-bator...though if your snake lays in a clump it may not fit, so probably better to just make one.

I made my incubator out of a 70 quart Coleman's cooler, 15' of heat cable, thermostat and some plastic grate picked up at a hardware store, typically used for florescent light covers. Tape the heat cable on the bottom of the cooler, (feed the non plug end through the water drain at bottom side of cooler, saves on drilling another hole) The probe from the thermostat and thermometer can go through same hole. Tape around the outside so they dont' pull out accidentally) Cut the plastic grate to form a layer a few inches above the heat cable then another one that is about half way up the cooler (or could squeeze a third shelf if you like, just make sure you have room for egg containers).

On the first layer right above the heat cable, I put a long dish which I fill with water. The second shelve I put the deli dish (or other container) with eggs in incubation medium with its own lid to keep in the humidity. A couple holes are poked into the lid to give ventilation.

It has worked good for me so far...but only had one clutch in it (of corn snake eggs). But it hold temperature pretty good.
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PHLdyPayne

Just let her do it. There is nothing wrong with maternal incubation. Don't worry, they've been incubating thier own eggs for alot longer than we have been sticking them in home made set ups.

the final count is 6 but i have another problem the female is still having contractions i belive she jerks her body now and then is this normal? any help will be much apreciated thanks

Is she coiled around them? How do you know she is done? If you are not going to get an incubator I would add some moist moss to the enclosure(not on eggs)to keep the humidity up and not mess with her too much. Just make sure your temps are correct in the cage.
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John Vandegrift

i got the incubator im fixing it up now and she dosent have any lupms in her anymore and she is coiled around the eggs now but from time to time she jerks her body

she is twitching most likely because the temps are too low. females will twitch to help raise the temps around the eggs, much lik ehow we shiver when we are cold the muscle movement creates heat. i would bump her temps up a touch so that the eggs are at 89 deg.hope this helps.

spider