Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am expecting my first ever clutch to hatch VERY soon! i was not even trying to breed and it happened. i got advice from you here about incubation already. the eggs were laid April 5Th. the temp in incubator was at 89 degrees. when should i expect them to hatch exactly? also, i am not set up to keep each of the 7 babies when they hatch in separate cages. will they be OK if i leave them all in a tank together? i have a 40 gallon tank i can house them in. also what would be the best substrate to use for the babies. i was recommended recycled paper substrate from a local pet shop. i just wanted to ask you all here first, since you have all helped me so much already. any other advice about tank set up for babies needs will be gladly excepted! thanks in advance for all your valuable help!

For my first two clutches, I used 6 qt Sterilite tubs with paper towel, a toilet paper tube hide and a small water dish. worked fine.

40 gallons is A LOT of space for babies...unless you litter the floor with lots of hides.
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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)

what kind of heat source? and it is a tall tank and not very wide

I had them in a rack system with flexwatt under it.
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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)

are you the same person that was worried about the dimpled eggs?

how do they look now....calapsed?

if you can't house them properly you should sell them off and use this clutch as a learning experience.

if you decide to keep them set them up properly...individually.

you could set up dividers within that 40gal tank and house them that way until you get something better. but the plexiglass/wood dividers could cost about as much as it would to just buy some shoe boxes/tubs???

is there an IKEA near you? you can find all that you need for under $50.

Pitoon

i already have 4 sold when they are ready to go. i will be keeping 1 or 2 and will definitely set them up right. how would shoe boxes work?? i have heard of this, but not sure how it works. what do i need to set it up that way?

yes, my eggs were dimpled and it stayed that way. i originally had 8 eggs and one rotted out. all the others are great. it looks like the babies are absorbing their yolks and are dimpling more now. i cant wait to see them! i am so excited!

"I was not even trying to breed and it happened"

How exactly does that happen?
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www.strictlyballs.ca

well, i came out one day and my snake had laid 8 eggs. i house my 3 balls together in a large display case i turned into a tank for them. so they are always together and happy and healthy. it just happened! i was very supprised, i actually thought i had all males.

I would highly recommend providing separate cages for your ball pythons. Adult ball pythons are solitary in the wild. As long as you house males and females together, you are going to continue getting "surprise" egg lays. In this case, you won't know when you should increase food for your females, you won't know when you need to have your incubator ready. You may not even be able to tell if your female is eggbound, which could be deadly.
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2.3 ball pythons
1.1 kingsnakes
0.1 crazy cat
?.? ASFs
1.0 husband

pitoon is correct, house them togeather only until the first shed, then they need to be in seperate cages, a 40 gal would be huge or babies, and they probably would be nervious all the time. The other issue is it would be very hard to safely heat the 40 gal so all the babies get enough heat but still have a cool spot to sit if they need it.
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic (Babies are getting bigger!!)
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

so what should i do then? 10 gallon tanks? shoe boxes? i am so new to this baby stuff! i have not got a clue! please advise me on this!

The shoe box size tubs should be good.
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic (Babies are getting bigger!!)
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

They can be housed together until their first shed (about 7—10 days).

After that you’ll want to separate them.

7 shoe box size tubs should only cost you around $14 check target or walmart any small tub with a secure lid will work.

7 small water dishes should only cost around $5-$10 if you don’t already have something at home that would work - check the local dollar store - petco has small dishes for a little over $1 that will work fine.

7 hides – you can use empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls, boxes etc. – they love these and they are free.

14.75 feet zoo med repti-cable - $16.00 (run it under the tubs you probably only need the 11 foot cable which is even cheaper).

Alife 1000 watt electronic thermostat with probe $27.00

Papertowels work great for substrate.

Depending on your budget there are other low cost alternatives but really - it doesn't cost that much to set them up.

Good luck.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

I use newspaper for alot of my snakes. Thats free as well.
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic (Babies are getting bigger!!)
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*