Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried looking it up with the search, but failed.
I am expecting eggs, so I want to be ready.

Incubator is set up. Holds a pretty steady 89.4-90 degrees (thermometer probe is in egg box, no substrate)

I picked up a bag of Perilite today for $3 at Walmart.
Now I want to make sure the temps hold with a substrate in the box.
How would I mix it?

Also...
Should I bury the eggs, or put a piece of that egg crating stuff over the substrate and put the eggs on top of that?

Thanks in advance.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Take the tub that the eggs are going to incubate in and drill an 1/8 diameter hole at each end of the tub about one inch from the top. These holes will allow a small amount of air to flow over the eggs during incubation. Mix your substrate with water using a one to one ratio by weight. Example; Put the empty tub onto a gram scale then zero it out while the tub is empty. Pour in the Perlite (*I use Vermiculyte*) so that it covers around two inches of the bottom of the tub, note the weight of the perlite used. Then take the same amount of water by weight and add it to the perlite. Mix the two components together. Place the eggs so that about half of each egg is submerged into the substrate. Place the lid onto the tub and incubate the eggs at 89 degrees F. After around 4o to 45 days you should see slight dimpling. The eggs will hatch between 50 and 60 days.

Very important note: Place the eggs in the substrate in the same position they were in when layed. Make sure the orientationn of the egg does not change during incubation. If the egg is placed on its side it will most likely die.

Once the first egg pips I carefully slit the other eggs open exposing the baby snake.

If you have any questions I can be reached at (408)981-6694

Good luck with the experience.

Brian
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

Thank you. My only question is this...

For my incubator, I took a plastic cooler and filled the bottom with about 6 inches of water. I put an aquarium heater (submersible with built in thermostat) into the water. I put a layer of egg crating down.
So...basically, the humidity is 100%. Will drilling holes in the egg box cause it to be too humid? Or is that much humidity good?
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

I meant to say the humidity OUTSIDE the eggbox is about 100%. I figured the substrate would provide the eggs humidity.
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

No need to use substrate with the set up you've described. I've used a cooler incubator before (using cable) and have had great results. I used small shoe boxes with 10 small holes drilled along the upper edges, and an egg crate bottom. The insides of the box remained dry throughout incubation--very wet outside the eggchamber, though. I used a small cpu fan 24/7.

there are probabley as many ways to incubate eggs as to skin a cat. ive only done one clutch (ina hovabator no less) but i know ive read aton of threads on here-so just search these. i know there is substrateless you can use perilite/vermiculite or each by itself. so all depends what you can rig up and use. i know usually youll be more worried about dehydration than too much moisture.
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GOOSEBALLS

lamina1982@hotmail.com

However I was addressing his specific set up. Using a substrate in this case isn't necessary and may only complicate the incubation process with mold.

Like someone else said on this thread there are many ways to incubate snake eggs. The first year I bred colubrids I incubated the eggs in my closet. I used no heat source or fan. The following year I used a modified refrigerator with a light bulb as the heat source. I used to use a two to one ratio by weight of water to vermiculite (two parts water to one part vermiculite). The first two years I incubated eggs using this ratio I had clutches of eggs that would pip and die in the eggs. I then went to a one to one ratio and found that the eggs would begin to dimple around 40 days into incubation. Since then have observed a very high hatch rate.

I have never used the water method, but know many breeders that do.

My suggestion is to find a method that works for you and stick with it.

Good luck with your clutches.

Brian

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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

>>I tried looking it up with the search, but failed.
>>I am expecting eggs, so I want to be ready.
>>
>>Incubator is set up. Holds a pretty steady 89.4-90 degrees (thermometer probe is in egg box, no substrate)
>>
>>I picked up a bag of Perilite today for $3 at Walmart.
>>Now I want to make sure the temps hold with a substrate in the box.
>>How would I mix it?
>>
>>Also...
>>Should I bury the eggs, or put a piece of that egg crating stuff over the substrate and put the eggs on top of that?
>>

>>Thanks in advance.
>>-----
>>"What is man without the beasts?
>>If all the beasts were gone,
>>men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
>>For what happens to the beasts,
>>soon happens to men.
>>All things are connected."
>>
>>-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

Don't bury them in the perlite(Use a plastic grid barrier.)It defeats the purpose of the no-sub method..The perlite is only there to create a floating island effect...
"No sub" makes it possible to have more than enough water for the 60 day duration,without having direct contact with the egg(In this way the egg gets moisture from the air instead of direct contact.)

Perlite is actually a very poor substate compared to vermiculite.Direct contact isn't the best idea...If one wants to bury eggs then just use vermiculite.

See how the whole thing is floating?..This also makes it easier to tilt boxes if they start to rain from the lids(Provided of course that the grid is small enough to allow it.)

Here i have a few boxes showing where i got better at gauging how much perlite to water ratio i could minimize to,before the islands either sunk or i didn't have enough water for the duration.

..and here is a shot if the top box on hatch day

The eggs will stay non-dimpled all the way up until they are about to hatch.(Two clutches below were laid a month apart from one another.)

good luck
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Charles Glaspie