Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My incubator is kept between 89-90,I habe most of this season's clutches still incubating lost power at 10 pm. I was checking the temps all night, power never came back on, I had no back up plan. This morning the temp in the incubator was 80 . I got a generator up and running by 7am, so 9 hours at sub optimal temps. My purpose of this post is two fold.
1. Hoping that someone will post saying that they went through something similar and everything was fine and
2. Always have a back up battery or generator, like I didn't!

I bought a UPS last year for my incubators...a little pricey for a large one to run them eight hours or so, but well worth the investment.
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com

You should be fine! Nobody hooks up a generator in Benin when the temps drop!

I keep telling myself that but I also think that underground and buried , the temperature fluctuations aren't that much? Believe me, I'm hoping!

Was the drop to 80 the actual egg temp ? Ether way I think they'll be fine due to the short time frame. Good luck .

I never opened the incubator, 80 was the temp of the inside, via digital probes set outside the egg boxes. Another thing that I learned, Helix thermostats seem to flutter on and off when run on a generator, temp only getting up to 86, still no power as of 4pm.

Dale, you should be good. Lower is better than higher! Hope you get power restored soon! Good luck my friend!
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Best regards,
AlanColesReptiles

Depending on your incubator set up you can rotate hot water bottles in your incubator to help keep temps up in the boxes (if you still have access to hot water).
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Tosha

nihil facimus sed id bene facimus

You should be okay. Lower is always better.

Get a cheap on/off thermo for next time also. They work better with generator power.
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Hognose, Sand Boa & Ball Python Morphs

Greg Bennett | www.hognose.com

Dale, sorry to hear of your power outage. I never wait longer than an hour to hook up the generator during an outage. The temps inside the incubator usually hold up well because mine is well insulated, but I don't let too much time pass. I've also found from years of experience (I live in Florida, rural and always losing power) that the Helix I use on the incubator does not function well with a generator. Last year we placed and wired a Ranco thermostat to the incubator solely for use during generator power. I switch stats over at the time of generator hookup and the Ranco does just fine. When power returns....switch back to the Helix.

Good luck on the future hatches...I bet they will be fine.
Nice seeing you in Daytona!
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Susan Sentman
SSNAKES Reptiles
susan@ssnakes.com

Sorry, if this goes a bit off topic. I can't comment on how your clutch will be, or how much you should worry or not, but...

I can tell you from personal experience and observation: the average temperature in the burrows, termite mounds, and holes where ball pythons and their eggs are found is somewhat stable. That said, the average temperatures, ambient/soil/body are also considerably lower than above/outside ground. Maybe even lower than what's ideal.

Most exporters quarantines aren't much more than cement bins, and maybe some hatchling tubs. I think ball pythons are hardier than most people estimate. I did see ball pythons kept in outside enclosures above the coastal plain of Accra in a village 30min past Aburi Gardens up in the mountain, and it did get chilly and foggy there at night. I don't know if any real reproduction took place up there, but they seemed to deal with it just fine otherwise.

Just a little food for thought.

Buzzardball- Eggs do not experience a 10 degree temperature drop when they are incubated maternally in the wild. Yes temperatures may drop but the female has the ability to regulate the temps to a certain extent. By the way, thanks for your 2 cents. Dale- I wish you the best of Luck with your eggs. I am hopeful they will be all be fine. Do you have power back yet? If not, I have a big cooler and some heat packs. We can transport your eggboxes to my house, I should have room for about 12 clutches in my bator.
-Jay

Female ball pythons have the ability to swing the temp 1-2 degrees!

I agree to disagree. Females in the wild lay their eggs in an underground burrow that is heavily insulated, They regulate the temperature of the eggs by coiling and uncoiling/ fanning the eggs. An outside temperature drop of 10 degrees in the wild may only have an effect of a few degrees on the eggs. I believe Dale was looking for feedback from those that have had similar problems/ situations of their own, inquiring about their overall outcome and results.

Eggs in the wild experience temp fluctuations greater then a few (if few is 3) degrees!

It happened to me this year here in dallas .I had no power for three days .Had about 50 eggs cooken . first I put heat packs in the incubator then after day two of no power I went and bought a 5500 watt gas generator .I thought i might need it in the winter sence we were going threw rolling black outs last winter .I went threw it alrasdy and temps got in the low 80`s so you might try heat packs if you are worried . Keep an eye on the heat pack temps also caulse they can get to hot .Hope this helps .
P.s.all my eggs that went threw the big temp change for around three days hatched out fine .Good luck and keep us posted .

I hope all comes out well Dale.
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Alice Cobb
Florida Reptile Room

Went through it last year but I had some incubators I could plug into my cars outlets for a couple of days. I knew I bought those for a reason just didnt know why till then

Power got turned back on at 5:30 pm and the incubator is back to 88 degrees. It does make me feel better that some have gone through the same thing and been ok. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when I start seeing heads poking out of those eggs. Never again will I be without a back up plan. Lesson leaned.Thanks for the well wishes.

Dale relax everything will be fine. I have actually hatched ball pythons before at 80 degrees. Just takes a lot longer then 60 days. I also had my power go out before for 48 hours and everything was fine. Paul

Wow, never heard anyone hatching them at 80, that makes me feel a ton better! Thanks.

I moved my entire incubator 3 hours over bumpy highways two seasons a row and attributed no problems to the move. I regulated the temp as best I could by turning on or off the a/c or heater as needed but I'm sure temps fluctuated wildly. This last time they were actually in a towed car that I only ran the heater on a few breaks through the trip. I know less time but point is they are much tougher than is generally thought.
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Randy Remington
anyone@snakemorphs.com
www.SnakeMorphs.com
FaceBook.com/SnakeMorphs

Memo to Randy: Quit moving during incubation season! LOL

Would be nice if I could just quit moving all together but need to follow the work. I've moved my snakes four times in the last two years and had great production so apparently it isn't too hard on them. I have a bolt together 2X6 construction snake room and I swear some of the parts weigh 500 lbs. and it about kills me every time as I have no help.
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Randy Remington
anyone@snakemorphs.com
www.SnakeMorphs.com
FaceBook.com/SnakeMorphs

When I was building my current house, I had to live in a pre-civil war home for about 4 months! I jammed my snake room into an old bedroom about 1/3 the size! It was hell, heating the room, especially as the calender turned to Dec. As it turned out, one of my best breeding seasons ever!

I did a little experimenting with incubation temps and sex ratios. You will be fine

Went home for lunch and had 2 little heads poking out of eggs from the clutch due to hatch, still about 10 more clutches cooking, but I feel a lot better now.After hearing the stories I have faith that they are going to be ok. Thanks everyone.

We had the same thing happen when we had tropical storm Irene.We still had 10 cluthces in the incubator and no power.After the first day the incubator went down to 82.I myself drove to Massachusetts for a generator after hearing we would be with out power for at least a week.It was at least at that temp for 12 or more hours.After the generator was up and running all was well with the temp.We were hoping this would not affect them needless to say all 10 clutches hatched out and were fine.Hope this helps you out.Good luck! Kim KSC Exotics