Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This was my first attempt at maternal incubation. Seemed to go pretty well. Not sure but I'll probably try this again from time to time as it was lots of fun.

If you are bored, follow the link to my page on this clutch. Nothing earth shattering but it follows this clutch through from breeding to hatching.

My page page on this clutch

Glad to see it worked for you. I have heard of other folks doing it also. -wink wink-

Feels good?
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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.

Yes, thanks for the support! I think the advice about only checking her once a week was particularly helpful. Of course I still worried too much about the temperature and humidity but I'll have more confidence next time.

It was rather gratifying to see her with the babies coming out. She is a small female so I'm not too worried about her smothering them (and she seems to be staying off anyway) so I'll see how and when they go their separate ways. Maybe it doesn't make much difference to her psyche to incubate them as opposed to taking them soon after laying but I know I enjoyed it and learned a thing or too. It wasn’t really a scientific study by any means but I’ll see how she recovers after the extra two months off feed and consider trying it again next year with her or another one.

Your welcome! You see most breeders disagree on this. But I did it because I had trouble taking the eggs. Mom does it the wild so it is 14st natural for PYTHONS to work with their eggs. It just made seemed right to me. Perhaps I could write a book!

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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.

Randy,
Did the egg on the very bottom hatch out? I have heard of snakes pipping through their egg into another and drowning in the fluids, just wondered how yours went. Great photos of the precess though, and very fun to look at.
Jason

I just checked and that one is sticking a few inches out if it's egg through a slight off to the side a little. I don't know if it just didn't start trying to slit until a few hours after the others or if it first tried up into the egg on top and then tried off to the side. I was also starting to worry about it possibly drowning. I'll examine the eggs after they all hatch and check the babies for cuts to see if I can figure out exactly what happened.

I’ve already boxed up the new camera as it wasn’t focusing right so I’m taking it back to the store (just as well as maybe I can get it refunded before the wife finds out I bought it).

All the babies have hatched now. Unfortunately I don't have a good camera available to take pics but I updated their "story" on my web site. Mom even downed a small rat already.

Congrats Randy! Looking good!
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Jay A. Martin

Do you fuss about where she lays them? I mean, if she puts them at the cooler end or over the heat or under the heat...do you trust her to be okay with them or do you move the lay box (if she used it)?
Do you worry about humidity? How do you adjust that?
I am asking as I have a BP pair that bred their brains out for two months this winter (Jan and Feb) but other than her fasting (totally normal for her anyway) and staying at the cool end I am not sure she took. So I MAY be getting eggs but I don't know and my incubator is full of Children's Python's eggs, so that is out. I figured I would leave them with her. Any info or sites would be great thanks.
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Sonya

Well, this was my first maternal clutch so I'm no expert.

I used a rack with 11" heat tape down the back and no heat tape under the tub. I also filled the tub with damp (but not wet) sphagnum moss (no nest box). With this combo I didn't really care where she laid them. I figured she would hollow out a spot the right distance from the back for the correct temperature. I've heard they can lay over heat tape and be ok but I would worry about that, especially if it was controlled by a simple on off thermostat and not a proportional thermostat probed right over the heat tape.