Hey man. I was over on the carpet forum with you earlier this year touting the virtues of the no-sub method, and now I have a question. This is the first time I've tried the no-sub method on my ball python eggs, and I've noticed something a bit unusual. I'm at day 48, and expecting eggs to hatch in about a week or so. The thing is, I've got absolutely no dimpling of the eggs yet. In the past, when I incubated in vermiculite, I the eggs started to dimple at about 6 weeks. Right now I've got an incubator full of big, fat white eggs. They look like they were just laid. Have you noticed that eggs incubated in this way stay fully hydrated longer? Do you think that I should be concerned about this and maybe vent my egg box more to decrease humidity a bit? The eggs are not wet at all, and there is only a normal amount of condensation on the egg box lid over the eggs. I just don't want to kill any babies. I remember reading something by Dave Barker that implied eggs can be too well hydrated just prior to hatching leading to some dead in egg babies. What are your thoughts? Thanks, Joe
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A No-Sub incubation question for Jeff Favelle (an anybody else)
Replies (3)
They could be too wet. Not an easy thing to do with the no -substrate method, as the eggs are on, well, no substrate! I'd suggest peeking in on them a couple times a day to let cooler, drier air (which will be even DRIER once it warms up RH-wise). This will ensure they don't drown/asphyxiate.
Keep us updated.
Yeah, I think I'll leave the egg box lid slightly "ajar". And this is definitely the time during incubation that I start to check more frequently. We'll see what happens. There really is no way that I can think of that my set up could have gotten them too wet. They are on a platic grate on top of wet perlite, but they are not touching the perlite. If they don't start to dimple by Sunday or Monday orso (day 50-51) I may manually pip the eggs. What do you think of that idea? Thanks for the input!
Not until the first 2 or three have pipped themselves. I've had eggs hatch at Day 50, and I've had them hatch at Day 61. I say leave them alone until its blatantly obvious not to.
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