Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've seen some nice looking ball python clutches lately. But many seem to show eggs with some dents/dimples in them. The eggs look healthy, but what are those dents in them? Is it a sign of something? Is it a good or bad thing, or does it even matter?

Just curious, thanks in advance.
-----
Michael
KoenigsPythons

Dents are just dents, nothing else. Some eggs come out perfectly smooth and white, some eggs don't. They all hatch the same as long as they are fertile.

Plus, in the last 2 weeks of incubation, the eggs cave in as the embryo (the snake) is nearly fully developed and takes up less room.

Top eggs are 2 days old, bottom eggs are due to hatch in 6 days.

An egg is an egg is an egg.

-----

Those look really simple to make and yet very efficient, any more pics? Thanks, Dave.

Its just a box of any dimension you choose that can hold water. Suspend the eggs over the water (on bricks, PVC pipe, whatever, doesn't matter) and the heat the water with a GOOD aquarium fish heater. Put a Helix on the fish heater as well (as backup), and you're good to go.

The eggs, because the air is 100% relative humidity, don't need to be in moist vermicultie. No guesswork, no screwed up clutches.

-----

Jeff:

1- Do you moisten the substrate under the grids insisde the egg box?

2- Do you place egg boxes one atop the other within the incubator or are ALL egg baxes at the same lavel, meaning ALL eggs are at basically same distance from water. Just wondering if there is stratification of temperatures within the incubator or if you have a fan in there to move air (and equalize temperature within whole incubator).

3- I guess you place more than one clutch within an egg box. have you ever had 2 clutches hatching at same time?

Thank you!

Ben

1. No, but it doesn't matter. You can use nothing under the grid, you can use water, perlite, a towel, newspaper, vermiculite, etc etc, its doesn't affect anything. The air is saturated (100% RH), none of that stuff matters.

2. Distance from the water doesn’t really matter, as long as the water isn’t touching the nest box, allowing the heat to travel conductively. You DON’T want conductive heat when incubating eggs. I don’t stack them because then it’s a pain to get at the ones at the bottom, and defeats the purpose of using the glass as a lid to view the eggs (without having to lat the cold air rush in). There’s no stratification of the air with regards to temperature. The incubator is only 2 feet tall, and 16 inches of that is water. He lid fits almost right with the top of the glass on top of the egg boxes.

3. 2 clutches will hatch at the same time if laid at the same time. Sure. But I purposely don’t put those clutches together. I don’t want a mix up to happen with say normal babies, and then het babies. Not worth it.

Cheers!!

Jeff F.
-----

I know, stupid question, what's a Helix? Thanks Jeff... John

Its a brand of well-known thermostats, used frequently by herpers!

Cheers!
-----

Thank you. I plan on building a incubator once i move and want to build it right. The more i learn the less mistakes i will make. Your photos were very helpful as well.

Seems like its a pretty tall incubator. With lots of water. Is it like a fish tank?

I was wanting to build something that was like 2 feet wide and like 10 feet long and 14 or so inches high. Then use a screen on bricks to be just above the water and use the fish tank heaters. And then have like a plexi top over the whole thing(maybe 2 pieces)(5 foot long by 2 feet).

That seems like it could hold a lot of indiviual egg tubs. What are your thoughts on that idea? Is it too big? Would it be better to go with 3 or 4 smaller ones? Can you even use like large rubbermaid tubs and put bricks in them and screen and heater and all that?

Sorry i went on, just trying to learn. Thank you...

John

?
-----
2.1 Python regis, 1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator, and the frogs.

49-58 days. Usually 53-55 days @ 90F.

thanks a bunch everyone, especially you Jeff!!

Great information!
-----
Michael
KoenigsPythons