Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been a long time since I've been here so any help is greatly appreciated!

FINALLY!!!!! After two long years, one of my Ball Pythons laid eggs!!!! My Albino male has finally started showing interest.

Here's the problem. I have them in a Matrix rack unit and she laid the egg over the heat tape. The heat strip hits a high of 91-95. Should I try to move the eggs off the tape or will she do it on her own? I plan to let her incubate.

Or should I remove the eggs and incubate in a hovabator. I have one 90% setup, just need to adjust the temps.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Rob C. if you still frequent this site, I know you use or used to use Matrix racks.

TIA!

Jay

I've heard of them laying over the heat tape and still being ok with maternal incubation but I don't have personal experience with this and I’m not sure how hot the tape was. I'm trying my first maternal incubation in a well insulated rack with 11" heat tape down the back because I was worried about heat tape under the eggs. 95 sounds too hot to me. Maybe she will be able to dissipate the heat or move them if they aren't stuck to the bottom. I'd be tempted to pull them though. I guess it depends on how committed you are to trying maternal incubation and how brave you are.

Do you use a thermostat? Is it proportional or a simple on off?

If you have a good proportional one maybe you could work it's probe and a thermometer probe under her coils. The idea behind a proportional thermostat is that it can hold constant temperatures and not cycle between a lower off temperature and a higher on temperature. If the probe is not over the heat tape I would think that the tape will have to get pretty hot to warm wherever the probe is and then turn off and it will still result in cycling right over the heat tape.

Maybe the thermostat probe shouldn't be in her coils after all but securely fastened to the bottom of a box right over the heat tape. Don't use tape to fasten it though as that can stick to their scales really bad. Maybe chewing gum or some other non toxic adhesive. My thinking is that if you put it into her coils unless you set it exactly at what she wants her and the thermostat will be fighting. If she adjusts the temp away from what the thermostat is set for it will just adjust the heat tape to compensate. However, if you use the probe elsewhere over the heat tape you will be controlling the background temperature under the eggs but she can work to raise or perhaps even lower this a little.

Hi Jay –

If the temperature inside on the cage floor directly underneath the clutch hits 91-95, your (her) eggs will soon be toast. If you are measuring those temperatures with an accurate thermometer, then you should definitely make a change quickly. Just unwrap her from the eggs and move the clutch slightly to one side of the highest heat. She will be back around those eggs as soon as you release her. She is very able to move part of her body over to the heat source, heat up, then transfer the heat back to her eggs. You can always opt for the incubator later if you decide to.

Good luck,
Joan

>>It's been a long time since I've been here so any help is greatly appreciated!
>>
>>FINALLY!!!!! After two long years, one of my Ball Pythons laid eggs!!!! My Albino male has finally started showing interest.
>>
>>Here's the problem. I have them in a Matrix rack unit and she laid the egg over the heat tape. The heat strip hits a high of 91-95. Should I try to move the eggs off the tape or will she do it on her own? I plan to let her incubate.
>>
>>Or should I remove the eggs and incubate in a hovabator. I have one 90% setup, just need to adjust the temps.
>>
>>Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!
>>
>>Rob C. if you still frequent this site, I know you use or used to use Matrix racks.
>>
>>TIA!
>>
>>Jay

I decided I wasn't brave enough to do the maternal incubation. I grabbed an incubator down from the attic, set it up and moved all 7 large and healthy eggs into it.

Mamma has since been cleaned and returned and mad as hell!

I have another that should lay in about 2-3 weeks so hopefully all will go well and I'll have another clutch of 100% Het albinos. Up until this point, I was beginning to think my male was a "dud".

Thanks All!