Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well my cal king that has gone 15 days past her pre-lay shed is just now laying her eggs. She's laid 2 eggs in the last two hours, and appears to have at least another ten eggs. Finally a sigh of relief and a big hope that the eggs are good, and that she has no trouble laying the entire clutch. I'll post a picture when the whole clutch is laid.

Here's a picture of her shortly after her pre-lay shed:

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~Sasheena

HUMONGOUS eggs! She has laid 5 eggs so far, taking about an hour for each egg to be laid... the fifth egg took longer, and was about 75% larger than the rest of the eggs, truly immense!
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~Sasheena

16 hours, 15 eggs.... Poor girl!

Here's a picture of the eggs. They are discolored from being laid in the sphagnum PEAT moss, but all appear to be viable. The one in the upper right box that looks especially different was the last one laid. Now I just have to wait 60 days for them to hatch.

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~Sasheena

I guessed 17 eggs. Are you sure there were "only" fifteen? Wow, that's pretty good though. Did you stay up and watch each one get deposited? Anyway, I'm glad she finally did her thing. Be sure and show us the hatchlings.

>>I guessed 17 eggs. Are you sure there were "only" fifteen? Wow, that's pretty good though. Did you stay up and watch each one get deposited? Anyway, I'm glad she finally did her thing. Be sure and show us the hatchlings.

Yeah, I stayed up and watched numbers 2 through 8 get laid... then I sort of napped, with an alarm to wake me on the hour. Only slept through the alarm once (had a dream that I was watching a snake lay eggs, and she finished, so when the alarm went off, I didn't have a reason to wake up)... so two eggs are clumped together, but otherwise they are all separate.

And I can't HELP but show off hatchlings! Hopefully I'll have 25 beautiful cal king hatchlings to show off this July. The first bunch are due on the 8th, this latest bunch is due on the 22/23d of July. Now I just have to wait and have a TON of patience!
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~Sasheena

OMG congrats Sasheena! Thats a lot of eggs lol, big ones at that! Hope these ones do better for you than your first batch, sorry to see/hear about those, tough break. I'm currently waiting for one clutch to be laid, another girl is in pre-lay shed now, and the third hasn't gone into pre-lay blue yet. But the incubator is up and running and ready to go. By the way, did you get my e mail? Sorry it took me a while to respond, I don't check that mail acc't very often.
best of luck, keep us posted.
~Roo
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

I believe I did get your email... the last week has been crazy with final exams and graduation for our students. Not to mention other issues!

The 15 new eggs all look good so far. The other clutch of twelve is definately reduced to 10, with one still "collapsed" about 30% but hasn't changed from that level of collapsed-ness in a few days... the two blue eggs are odorific! But the rest are holding their own... in ways this is a comfort... if two turn blue but the rest hatch that confirms that it was just fate, and not bad egg management.

Overall at this point in time I have 61 eggs. Two are questionable in one of my corn clutches, with white mold (not blue) but I've been trying to fight that with some foot fungus powder.

25 cal king eggs, 36 corn eggs. 1 pyro possibly gravid.
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~Sasheena

Sasheena,

When you have time, could you take some pics of your incubator setup and post them or email them to me? As you know I am new to this and would love to get some ideas from your setup.

Thanks,
Travis

Well my incubator is so simple you don't even need a picture to see it... I have most of the eggs either in glad disposable containers, or in rubbermaid containers... no airholes. Damp but not dripping wet vermiculite. The containers are on a shelf in my bedroom. No source of heat other than the ambient temperature which can drop to 78 at night and get as high as 86 in the day (unless the AC isn't working). The AC is set between 81 and 84 depending on the day and the time. It's Arizona, so I really don't need an incubator that will do anything that the natural weather here in Arizona can do. The eggs are just going to hatch on their own. I do have an indoor outdoor digital thermometer with the indoor part on the lower shelf, and the outdoor part on the upper shelf, to make sure that temps are okay. I have the latest clutch of 15 eggs in three glad containers, a clutch of 20 corn eggs in a rubbermaid, the clutch of 12 in a rubbermaid, and the two other clutches of corn eggs, 10 and 6 eggs each, in a couple more glad containers. I had planned on putting the latest clutch in a rubbermaid purchased for this purpose, but since I was pulling the eggs individually, there would not have been enough room in the container for 15 individual eggs!
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~Sasheena

Why no air holes?

In Arizona it is SO DRY this time of the year, that the air will suck all the humidity out of hte egg boxes VERY quickly. There are also these little black flies that love to eat up anything (including humans) that are in their vicinity... I don't want them to infest the eggs. I check the eggs often enough to allow for new air in, but many people have left their egg boxes completely sealed for the entire time, and only open them when little snakes appear... so I believe that there is enough air in the egg boxes for the eggs to breathe for the whole gestation. (or whatever that time is called)
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~Sasheena

They look nice and big! Should be some robust, pinkie wreckers coming out of those (eggs) soon!!!
Good luck - (my Cal King is right behind yours. I give her maybe three more days before she dumps her "big white beans"

Zee

Wow, this is gonna be some week guys as my one female seems to be getting cushy in her laying box as we speak. I'll post some pics when she goes. if not tonight should certainly be within the next few days Good luck to us all!
~Roo
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"