Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had 3 sets of eggs laid and I have yet to get any to hatch. I have various rat and king snakes. I believe that some of these eggs were doomed from the start due to their size and appearance. The eggs either got moldy or appeared to dry out.

I would be happy to provide as much info. as possible to anyone who would like to try to help me. I would also gladly accept any reference to material that would help.

thanks,

Kevin

I've incubated eggs -- corn snake, fox snake, bullsnake, and milk snake -- with up to 100% hatch rates. Drop me an e-mail with details, and I'll see what I can spot.

Paul Hollander

pholland at iastate dot edu

Paul,
First I had eggs from a western hognose. Most of them looked like hard yellowish cylinders. It was a while ago. I think they either got moldy or shriveled up. I haD THEM IN AN INCUBATOR IN A CUP OF VERMICULITE WITH WATER. I eyeballed the H2O. I also had eggs from an Arizona Mt. king that were about the same. That female was too young I think. The hognose was maybe too old. She was bound up with more of those cylindrical eggs and died.
Later I had a clutch of eggs from a pair of rat snakes (greenish/black). They had been in the cage a while before I saw them. I transferred them to the incubator carefully. Most of these looked viable. But in the incubator they got moldy and shriveled up.
I think I've had some less than optimal situations and I'd like to have a better start this year since I'm expecting some eggs.
If you'd like more info , ask me whatever you need to know. I appreciate your help.

Kevin

I think I would start to look at your procedures for preparing the snakes for breeding. Mostly brumation. Once you are sure that you have that right, and the snakes are being brumated long enough and at low enough temperatures to trigger good sperm production in the male, then I would look at things like incubation temps, humidity in the incubation container, etc. It sounds like your Hognose had all "slugs", from your description of the eggs and the fact that she died eggbound. The others may have been viable, but you can easily kill them with too much moisture or letting them dry out or letting them get way too hot or way too cold, or handling them too much.

I'm with oldherper -- the hard yellowish eggs were slugs.

If you eyeballed the water for the rat snake eggs, you probably put too much in. That would explain the mold. The last time I weighed Vermiculite, a plastic shoebox 3/4 full was 6 ounces. The rule of thumb is 1:1 by weight, so 6 fluid ounces of water provides all the water necessary for the first month or so. Then I usually make a fresh mixture, especially if there is some dimpling.

A decent scales can be expensive, though there are ways around that. But a measuring cup only goes for a buck or two at the Wal-Mart Housewares section.

Hope this helps.

Paul Hollander

BTW, what species are you expecting eggs from?

Paul Hollander

Paul,

If all goes well, I would have Arizona Mt. Kings, Prairie Kings, Grey Bands, Greenish/Black Ratsnakes, Rosy Boas and Solomon Island Ground Boas.

When you put plastic containers with vermiculite in the incubator, should each individual container have a lid. If so How much ventilation?

Thanks,

Kevin