Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive got a pair of Burmese pythons cooling right now and I want to prepare for the clutch. What Incubators are u guys using? Some good info on some incubators would be useful. Do u reccommend maternal incubation or seperating them from the mother? Pics of some incubators would be great too.

> > > Do u reccommend maternal incubation or seperating them from the mother?

I think the trade offs of each way makes it about 50/50, more of a personal choice. Pesonally, I think everyone should use maternal incubation at least once just to experience nature.

With maternal incubation the enclosure needs to retain humidity good or you'll wear yourself out keeping the eggs from drying out. The female can help increase temps by a few degrees but she also needs to be in good health beforehand since she'll go without food for so long while on the nest.

With incubators, there's not much about 'em that's "natural." Some of the commercial ones have features that try to make up for it & some don't, needing some modifications. And then there's the size/cost relationship since we're talking about roughly thirty 4-inch eggs.

I can't help you on commercial (pre-fab) incubators and I don't have my ol' fridge fully converted yet (no set plans, blueprints, either). There are a few good ones that I've seen posted throughout the KS forums and thru a Google search. Search forums and/or Google for terms like: build incubator, homemade incubator, DIY incubator, incubator plans, etc...

Wish I could be of more help than that, but, I can't. Other than - if you have any particular questions about building one or the design of one, make a post and I'm sure me and/or several others here can help.

Happy breeding!

HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Ive used a polystyrene box (used for trnasporting tropical fish to pets shops etc)in the past to hatch corn eggs. You may need a few for burm eggs but it should work.

You place a couple of bricks in the bottom to create a raised platform for the egg ocntainer. Next fill the box with water up to just below the top of the bricks. Fit a fish tank submersible heater used for tropical fish tanks and set to the desired temp. Fit the lid to the box and monitor temp and humidity. you can puncture holes int he lid to adjust this. You can then place a container with the eggs and substrate on top of the bricks. The air should reach the temp and be humid enough.

Not used this with burms though so may not be suitable??
-----
AndyD

Yeah. that style of incubating system will work for burmese python eggs but you've got to consider the size or number of containers or aquariums needed to hold 30 or so 4 inch eggs.

I hatched a few in a 20-gallon aquarium last year using the same basic principles.

Later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

I made a fridge incubator from the website arbreptiles.com and it works like a champ. I used flexwatt 11 inch wide , 3 ft long and maintains 90 degrees with no problem.......good luck and i believe its the way to go.