I posted this in the Rat Snake forum, but I thought I would post it here, as well.
I have incubated two clutches of Chinese Beauty (Orthirophis [Elaphe] taeniurus taeniurus) eggs, and have had very limited success in getting healthy, well formed neonates to hatch. The clutch from 2007 was incubated at ~82*F, and resulted in one live perfectly formed neonate, one live slightly deformed neonate (slight back kink, split ventrals), two badly deformed, and one well formed neonate which could not break through its eggshell and died in the egg. This year, I had seven eggs which went full term, and produced seven well formed neonates, of which only two hatched alive. The other five had already died in their eggs before I cut their eggs open. I sliced the eggs open as soon as I noticed some very small slits in a couple eggs, and numerous scratches (showing from the inside) on other eggs. This clutch was incubated (mostly) at 78 - 80*F, with a few days at the beginning of incubation getting up to about 82*F. Humidity inside the egg tub was around 80% throughout most of incubation, and was raised by using moist paper towels for the last two weeks of the term. The eggs started showing scratches and slits at about 64 days. These eggs were extremely tough and thick, and the babies could not get out of them without help - in both clutches. Surely, this cannot be a problem, in the wild, or these snakes would not exist.
My questions: How are other breeders of the various subspecies of Orthirophis taeniurus and/or Orthirophis moellendorffi incubating their eggs? What temperatures, humidity, and any other conditions you feel are relevant to incubation, do you use to get your neonates to hatch, and not die in the egg? Do they need lower temps for incubation, causing a longer incubation period? Higher humidity? A combination of both?
Thanks very much,
-Toby Brock
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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
