Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I finished my incubator but I'm concerned that putting the flexwatt under the containor holding the eggs will cause too much moisture. Is that possible? If water condenses on the eggs will it kill them? I tried it out and after a couple hour the whole container had moisture condensed all over. Should I put the flexwatt along the side instead? I will be using a thermostat to control the temp. My female is in her pre-laying shed right now

BTW, I'm trying the "no substrate contact" method. The eggs will rest on the plastic grate. Let me know what you think.

Jessica
www.scalywonders.com

I never used an icubator for my corn snake eggs. I have always just kept them in my snake room which is kept at a cozy 82-85 air temps. I used them for my Pythons back when I bred them, do you find a benifit with the incubator or do you use it so you can keep the eggs in an airconditioned room?
Just curious thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

I'm not sure about the humidity but I'd recommend getting a peice of plexiglass to hold fit on the inside lip/rim of the cooler. I have also thought about that same method for incubating when looking into it for future GTP breedings. I've heard that it helps with reducing the amount of heat lost whenever you open it. The heat loss is probably dramatic. Avey builds this style too, which I've heard great things about but its not for poor people like me.lol. Also, I've seen people use water bottles within the coolers for holding the heat at a more stable/constant temps and to provide mass. Let me know how it works as I'll be trying that method someday soon too.
-Jason
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www.members.aol.com/northeastsnakes

I did some more research yesterday at www.morelia.ca (under articles) and www.reptile-pit.com and I might be making a few adjustments to my incubator setup. This setup does seem to be used mostly by python breeders. I like it because I don't like to mess with how much water to add to the perlite (I don't use vermiculite) and after a couple week how can you tell how much more water to add and so on. I also don't want my eggs to come in contact with anything but a "sterile" surface because of bacteria and fungus. Last year was my first year breeding and incubating. I lost an entire clutch of milksnake eggs to fungus and I lost 1 out of 3 cornsnake eggs. I hope to do much better this year .
I'll let everyone know how it works out.
Jessica
www.scalywonders.com

I haven't bred any snakes for a while, but I've produce cal kings, gray bands, balls, and corns before. Out of about 50 or so eggs incubated, all have hatched out. The method used was always moistened vermiculite purchased at a garden shop. Colubrid eggs were placed half buried in the medium within a plastic shoe box with a few very tiny holes for air exchange. Shoe boxes were placed on top shelf inside a closet. Temps were high 70's to very low 80's. 3 clutches of ball python eggs were kept in the same manner, but incubated in a hovabator at 89F.

I put vermiculite in a strainer and run water through it and then press on it a few times to squeeze out some of the excess water. It's quite wet, but I never added any water during the incubation.

I provide this info only to emphasize that fertile eggs are generally quite resilient. Consider the possibility that the eggs that went bad on you were not fertile.

I'm curious to know if you candled them beforehand?.... were they fertile?