Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About a week and a half ago, one of my corns laid 10 eggs, completely unexpectedly. The animal is recently aquired, probably wild-caught, but in good health. These corns are actually for an experiment in snake locomotion (don't worry, all we're doing is videotaping them), so this was not something we'd intended on nor expected, but we managed to create a makeshift incubator. I was hoping people here would be able to tell me is this sounds good or not, and give me some pointers.

We snagged a rubbermaid plastic shoebox from another lab, and some vermiculite (fertilizer free) from the greenhouse, which I used to create a saturated bottom layer that could serve as a water resevoir. On top of this, I placed a layer of long-fiber sphagnum moss, thoroughly moistened with distilled water, then placed the eggs on that, and covered them with more moist sphagnum. I placed the probe of a thermostate next to the eggs in the middle, and a moistend paper towel over the whole lot, then mostly covered it with the lid (leaving it open just a crack for some air flow). The entire thing was placed in a spare 10gal aquarium, with a 100 watt lamp over it, connected to the thermostat, which is set to around 84 or so.

The eggs were laid on the 22nd of june, and, when we candled them, we could see a network of veins in some, indicating that at least some are fertile. So far, all the eggs look fine: nice and plump, firm, no mold, and I'm checking daily to keep the humidity up.

So my big questions are:
1) Does this setup, overall, sound good, and if not, what do I need to change?
2) What is the appropriate level of humidity for corn eggs? Currently, it's very close to 100%, with condensation on the container walls, etc. My prof thinks this is too much, but he admits his main experience with eggs has been with desert lizards, not temperate snakes.

Thanks,
Mokele

It sounds good... perhaps a little too moist. The main thing is to make sure the eggs have a medium from which they can draw moisture if neccessary. If you touch it, your hand should not come away "Wet" however. So if you grab the sphagnum moss and give it a squeeze, you shouldn't get any water out of it, same with the vermiculite. If you get water, it's a bit too moist. I use the condensation on the side of the egg container to indicate if the humidity level is okay. No condensation, I add a little bit of water to the edge of the egg box. Lots of condensation, I try to open it a little more frequently.

Of course I'm not an expert! This is my first year breeding corns... one of my clutches was due yesterday, another due tomorrow, and a third on Thursday, and darn it if they aren't stubbornly NOT pipping. I SEE veins when candled, just no pipping noses!
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~Sasheena