Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

I remember a while back (~1 year??), I thought I saw someone post
a very detailed message about oxygen requirements for python
eggs (ie. # of eggs vs volume of air in the incubator, etc).
I find myself needing this information for some incubating.
Does anyone have this data? I have an incubator that is fairly
air tight, which makes me wonder/nervous...

Thanks, and happy herping.
Chris

Just open it up every couple of days, and they will be fine.

Good luck,
Chad

Thanks for the reply Chad! However, I was looking for some
specific data (that I recall seeing a long time ago), that was
very 'scientific' in nature. I know it is a good idea to "open
the incubator/container every day or so". What I'm concerned
about is the number of eggs within an incubator, and what if I'm
planning on being away from the eggs for several days, or even
a week? Know what I mean?

Best of luck to you. Hope your season is going well!

Bachman is right.

Just to further clarify for you... the eggs require appropriate temps (provided for by the incubator), appropriate moisture, and sufficient oxygen.

The moisture and oxygen requirements are tied to one another... the greater ventilation provided (for oxygen) the faster the water will escape from the system. You don't want to over do the ventilation. The fact is that very little is required. An air tight system with a few 1/8" or 1/4" holes added is enough ventilation for the entire incubation period.

Another point to make is that the rate that the embryos develop increases a great deal during the last few weeks of incubation... this can cause the temp of the egg mass to rise markedly. Make sure that you are measuring the temp of the eggs and not the temp within the incubator (i.e. outside the container that contains the eggs). I have eggs incubating now that are due in a week or so.... I've had to tweak the setting down several times during the last couple weeks.... if I hadn't, they'd probably be around 93F or so right now.

Thanks for the reply!
I understand that the amount of heat and ventilation will have
a direct impact on the humidity/etc. You are correct.
I typically have just what you are saying (1/4" holes on the
container, placed inside my incubator), and have found this to
work out very well indeed (for humidity). My real question/concern
is that the incubator itself is (possibly) airtight. So I'm
trying to figure out just how quickly the eggs can use up the
air inside the chamber. When I'm around (which is just about
all the time), I check on them everyday, so I'm not worried
about it. However, if I were to go away for several days I'd
hate to come back to find the eggs had died due to lack of
oxygen. Like my post said, I had seen someone post a very
specific/scientific explanation computing air/oxygen burn rates
vs # eggs in the chamber vs volume of the chamber. That's the
kind of data I'm hoping to find.

Thanks for your reply...your suggestions are valid.

Your post:
Bachman is right.

Just to further clarify for you... the eggs require appropriate temps (provided for by the incubator), appropriate moisture, and sufficient oxygen.

The moisture and oxygen requirements are tied to one another... the greater ventilation provided (for oxygen) the faster the water will escape from the system. You don't want to over do the ventilation. The fact is that very little is required. An air tight system with a few 1/8" or 1/4" holes added is enough ventilation for the entire incubation period.

Another point to make is that the rate that the embryos develop increases a great deal during the last few weeks of incubation... this can cause the temp of the egg mass to rise markedly. Make sure that you are measuring the temp of the eggs and not the temp within the incubator (i.e. outside the container that contains the eggs). I have eggs incubating now that are due in a week or so.... I've had to tweak the setting down several times during the last couple weeks.... if I hadn't, they'd probably be around 93F or so right now.

I was going to say some funny stuff, but changed my mind.
I look forward to some scientific info on eggs/oxygen consumption.
I do wonder how one would prove such an equation/theory?
I guess to be safe you will have to install a fish tank pump with an air hose to your incubator and plug it in to a timer that goes off every day and runs air in to your incubator for a sufficient ammount of time. To make sure the air is at the correct temp, you can suck the air out of one of your onther heated units with sufficient ventilation.
What do you think?

Yes, some sort of ventilation to the chamber is necessary.
I guess the main summary would be to NOT have an incubator
that is airtight to begin with!