Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, every year about this time I get to thinking about this, and this year it's most important. I've got a smaller homemade incubator, and I usually get away with "hot-racking" it. In other words, I've gotten away with having previous clutches out of the incubator by the time another comes along. This year I'm just not going to be able to do it. I've got a full incubator, with about two weeks to go on one clutch of 9 huge eggs, and another due to be laid just about any day. I put a probe in this next girls tub, on top of her nest box (plastic hide). In her tub she's got moist sphagnum moss, and she's pretty much cleared out the space below. The temp right over her hide is 87.1 degrees F, and the relative humidity is reading at 84% (by the way, thats with back heat, not belly heat so there is no additional heat below). Having not done maternal incubation before, I just wanted to get your opinions. The temps and humidity sound just about ideal to me. I almost bet I could hatch eggs in there without the mamma, and I'm really feeling good about the set-up. Its especially important to me as these are going to be very interesting eggs, at least to me. Thanks for the input.

If by 'interesting' eggs, you mean they will have some special
value to you (either monetarily or emotionally), why not spend
the $50-60 to buy a simple Hovabator type incubator? It will
also be useful for you in the future if/when you start having
more clutches. They have worked fine for me in the past (I use
much larger incubators now). Note: As a backup, I would throw
a safety (backup) thermostat on it just for insurance. You can
pick one up for about $30 or so (simple on/off thermostat).

I know it is sometimes a matter of choice, and some people
like to do maternal incubation, but for me I prefer to take out
most of what I would call 'guesswork'. The incubators I use
hold the temps to within +/- 0.2 degrees F. It takes all year
to get to the day when eggs arrive, and I like to increase my
chances of hatching them all out!

Best of luck!
ChrisS - SanJose

Thanks for the info. I really would like to try maternal though. I know Rick only uses maternal incubation, and he claims to have 100% hatch rate on fertile eggs. I've got an incubator I made that keeps the temps absolutely steady, and the humidity right around 100%, and I still don't get 100% hatch rate.

When I said interesting, I was refering to the fact that this is the first clutch from a wildcaught female that appears to be axanthic. The snake was in poor shape when I recieved it a while back, I rehabbed it, got it feeding, and now have managed to get her gravid. I'll include a picture down below. Thanks again for the input.

I am trying to figure out your question?
My heat tape is under the cage in the back....Freedom Breeders.
My humidity is around 70 in the room.
heat tape 88-90.
They lay their eggs on newspaper. They like local news
Mom does the work. And some moms will take your arm off if you mess with her. They are all stay at home moms!!!!!!!
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

LOL...thanks for the attempt. I guess my question was this...If my temps are around 87-88 degrees, and my humidity is in the 80s, I should be fine to go with the maternal incubation, right? Thanks!

Sure. Maybe crank the humidity down about 8-10 points.
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

I may decide to move them into the incubator once, I make enough room in there. I'm not complaining, mind you...too many eggs is a great problem. Hopefully by next year I'll be able to make a "walk-in" style incubator. I know you have great success with maternal incubation, but I'm too scared to commit to it full time. Maybe if this clutch goes great and all hatch with maternal incubation I'll be more comfortable with the idea.

Another question then. Obviously, moms incubate eggs in the wild so thats a very natural process. One huge positive I see in artificial incubation is that you can get mom back on food immediately, and get her weight back up to optimal more quickly. Do you breed your females every year? If not, do you think the two months off feed are a problem?

I had a mom drop 10 good eggs last year, which were artificially incubated. She ate just a couple days after laying, ate like a beast all summer (2 medium rats, once every week to 10 days), and gave me 9 good eggs this year. I wonder if I would have got that kind of production if she had maternally incubated. Hmm....sounds like a good research project. Anybody want to give me a research grant?