Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All,

Hello, I have a pair of Childrens Pythons and though I have not tried to breed them, I think the female is gravid. I am not used to the time lengths etc that it takes for the female to lay eggs but here is what is up so far. About 2 or 3 months ago, I did see my pair mating, in fact I was taking them out to clean the cage, and noticed it, and set them back down. Now, the female is not just fat, she is huge...So, I had a couple of questions...first, is she ovulating? I keep reading about this on these boards. If not, can you explain it anyway, so I can learn what that means? I am guessing she must be loaded up with eggs...so, since I do not have an incubator, should I just let her "mother" the eggs? I can supply all the heat needed, so I think this is probably the way to go. The male is already in another cage, so he won't be in the way. Anything else I should know?

Thanks all,

Derek

It sounds like she is ovulating or gravid and ready to lay. I have let my childrens maternally incubate and it is a bit tricky but doable. The big thing to worry about is keeping the incubation chamber humid, but the substrate should be fairly dry. I messed up the first and the second clutches I let the female maternally incubate and my hatch rate was low. The best success I have had with maternal incubation was with jungle carpet pythons where I had a rubbermaid container with the female in the bottom on green moss. There was one opening in the top to the basking cage. There was a large water bowl in the incubation chamber. The temp was belly heat at 89 F. She hatched all but one slug and they were all healthy and robust. She was none the worse for the wear and fattened up again quickly. Again, the most important is dry substrate, high humidity and 89 F.
Good luck,
Justin J

>>All,
>>
>> Hello, I have a pair of Childrens Pythons and though I have not tried to breed them, I think the female is gravid. I am not used to the time lengths etc that it takes for the female to lay eggs but here is what is up so far. About 2 or 3 months ago, I did see my pair mating, in fact I was taking them out to clean the cage, and noticed it, and set them back down. Now, the female is not just fat, she is huge...So, I had a couple of questions...first, is she ovulating? I keep reading about this on these boards. If not, can you explain it anyway, so I can learn what that means? I am guessing she must be loaded up with eggs...so, since I do not have an incubator, should I just let her "mother" the eggs? I can supply all the heat needed, so I think this is probably the way to go. The male is already in another cage, so he won't be in the way. Anything else I should know?

IF she is big and staying that way then she is gravid. Ovulation is a one day long thing. You can wait for a 'prelay' shed and go with days from there.....2-3 weeks from shed. Humidity will be the issue if she maternally incubates them. And you might want to have an incubator on hand and ready anyway as she may not take on her motherly duties.
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Sonya

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