Reptile & Amphibian Forums

will eggs hatch if left with the mother

Maternal incubation works very well if you have the proper cage setup and monitor it closely. It also gives you the unique perspective of seeing how these animals complete the reproductive process under more natural conditions. I have used maternal incubation almost exclusively with several python species and this is the setup I have been using since the late 1970's. It will keep the ambient humidity at about 90% with no problem at all. The plastic boxes contain towels which protrude above the surface of the water and act as a wick system. It is heated from below the cage bottom using Flexwatt. This setup can also be easily size scaled for about any length python, although a 4 X 4 foot nest box space is as large as I have used it with, and that size will work with 16 to 18 footers. Those larger cages were 4 X 8 length-width, but with the nest box at one end, a partition is slid in to cut the cage size in half after she lays in the nest box. The Sri Lanka python below is in a 3 X 6 cage with a partition in place to make it 3 X 3 after laying. The smaller the interior air volume, the easier it is to maintain the higher humidity. Vents are kept to a minimum. The nest box is lined with moist, long-fibered sphagnum and about once every three days I will spray a little water over the top of the female and around her to keep the sphagnum moist. Other than this I don’t do anything else to the environment during the incubation process. The key is to keep the nest box substrate temps in the mid-80's and being careful not to let it get above about 88. The female can always raise the egg mass temp, but she has no way of lowering it if it climbs above the preferred incubation temp for that species. Always use quality temp and humidity monitoring equipment, and measure temps in the sphagnum below the females coils and also the ambient temps at the surface of the sphagnum next to her coils. I have had outstanding success with this setup and never had any egg desiccation problems, or health problems with the females.

Kelly

thanks for the detailed answer,now i understand how to do it.

Good and informative response. Love the setup.
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