Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my girl laid 4 monster eggs in the night. I want to leave them with her. I 'think' I can keep temps good, though she laid them at the cool end in the 78 range. She is next to but not on the UTH that is at 100 but not in direct contact with the tank and on top of the paper it is only high 80s. I have the humidity at 70% but thought I could/would put in some damp moss around her but not on and help raise humidity and help her feel safer. Good idea or bad?? She is in a 50 breeder tank. Boy am I moving them to a rack next time!
Also, reading up on leaving them with mom I came on a couple comments that she will leave them on and off and may eat. She is really thin! I would love to get some food in her if you think it would happen and be a good idea. Please let me know.
TIA
Sonya
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Sonya

You sorta get the size thing.....she is a 4 ft and was over 3.5#s at the beginning of her breeding. If they are that big are they likely infertile? Oh heck I can't think of the other question.

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Sonya

Jeesh....They are big...

Here is Rob`s maternal incubating page.
It may help you.
Rob`s Link

Congratulations!

I think the damp but not wet moss nearby might be a good idea for keeping humidity up. That's what I did with my first attempt with maternal incubation this year. She might have been fine without it but I was worried as it's rather dry where I live.

Most people are surprised by the size of ball eggs, they're just plain big.

I don't think my female left the eggs and I didn't try to feed her. I certainly would not try with live and it might be better not to try at all (wouldn't want her constricting and possible damaging the eggs). She probably wouldn't eat anyway I'm thinking but don't know for sure.

Being near the UTH she may be able to control the temp pretty well by extending a coil over the hot spot when needed and using her blood flow to move heat to the eggs. It will be interesting to see.

Mine seemed to get rather stressed and defensive whenever I looked at her so I cut down checking her to once a week. Perhaps you should cover most of the aquarium for added security?

Best of luck and let us know how it goes! Hopefully you’ll see something like this in a couple months.

hummm mom did it!!!!!
*smile* converted yet?
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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.

Thanks, All I did was put extra moss in there.....she had a moss box but she laid in her ugly cardboard box hide. She had exploded her clay pot one to peices least month, getting inside it and flexing.
I wanted to know about feeding only 'cause she is such a limited eater. I am breeding rabbits right now so I'll have kits to offer and would love her to take them over gerbils. She is a very limited (4 months out of 12) eater and only a gerbil or two at a time every 10 days. And easy keeper but hard to get extra on her. So bunnies or I will get chicks or something. But I obviously won't breed her again til she is back in shape.
Maybe by then I will have an incubator that isn't flucuating temps as much as this one. It dropped 10 degrees on two occasions. And my CP eggs are yuck and I am frustrated with it. I should have left them with her too! It is a learning experience. But I hate ones like this.
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Sonya

Let mom do it. RELAX!
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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.

She does seem to want to stay with them(placid girl hisses so loud I thought she would strike), much moreso than the Children's Python did. I don't like that she is so light but hey, maybe if she is super hungry she will be more likely to take scented rats instead of the con sarn gerbils!when this is all over.
The fact that I don't trust my incubator ( it seems to vary more than 7degrees)and am at least partially blaming it for my CP eggs going icky. Until I have a better set up I am not gonna move these. Heck, let her kill them or not. I am trying to follow my instincts.....which are good usually. It is the following them part when I don't have any experience to back them up.
So, this year all these eggs were not expected and I am chalking them up as learning.
THANKS so much everyone.
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Sonya

She may not eat for the next 60 days. This will make it harder for you to get her back to the right weight for breeding next year. That's assuming you want to breed her again next year.

Regarding your other question about fertility... I don't think large eggs mean infertile eggs. Try candeling them with a flash light. If you see blood vessels then they are fertile. Sorry I can't answer your other questions... I'll leave that to someone who has experience with maternal incubation.

Good Luck,
Oz
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Female BP's can and do abandon the eggs without notice. So sometimes you end up need the incubator anyways!

And thus, 99% of breeders incubate the eggs artificially. "Moms do it in nature though", some people say. Yeah, big deal. They also DON'T live in cages eating foreign food in nature. So that argument is mud.

So far my girls stay with their eggs. [I check each day] Foreign food? Some only eat gerbils. I like foreign food! What other folks do with their eggs is up to them. My normal girls always bulk up enough to to give me 8-9 eggs a year. My pied hets are problem eaters - they seem to not want to eat like my "normals". I do not argue with what others do. This is what I like to do.....it is up to you and others what they want to do. I feel great about it and yes, "it is what they do in the wild". Guess I have mud on my face. I am sharing one of my ideas. Sometime you must give a girl off in a breeding season if she is under weight. We are producing animals not widgets. I believe VPI alternates their females for reproduction and also pulls the mothers' eggs.
Enjoy!
Rick

Kick back and smell the coffee
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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.

And I agree that the mother incubate them in the wild, well because that's the only option. Evolution has dictated that Pythons maternally incubate. Fine. But what does that mean for captivity? Well, in captivity, usually the goal is to produce as many viable, healthy offspring every year as possible, while maintaining a healthy adult population. It doesn't matter what they do in the wild. They have ticks and mites and 99% die before their 1st birthday. THAT is the wild. If your argument is that you want to let them do what they do in nature, then why are yo eliminating all other aspects except one? Because it backs your argument? Doesn't make sense. Not at all.

The question isn't whether or not Balls can maternally incubate in captivity. That's obvious. Its been done for 30+ years. Big deal. The question is how to get the best results from your animals. And its been proven that artificial does that. I don't know how you can argue with it.

And I don't understand how people can think its hard to incubate a Ball Python egg? Its so damn easy its not even funny. A 2-year old could do it. Try monitor (or even chameleon) eggs if want hard.

QUOTE:

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Posted by: ballboutique at Sat Jun 28 10:23:43 2003 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

Let mom do it. RELAX!
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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc. "

>>>>>> If that's not telling someone what to do, I'll eat my hat. My Sask. Roughriders hat. And that's my favorite hat!

But Jeff, I had asked him about particulars relating to maternal incubation. So he was just saying to my previous post that I didn't need to tweak stuff and that was okay. It is what the whole thread was about.

I personally don't have an incubator I trust right now. Nor room in the one I don't trust anyway. I don't think anyone has to defend how they choose to incubate. I do believe we should get all the info and go with what works for us, as individuals. Look at all the live feeders and the debate over that. Or the whole prey vs bugs vs turkey diet on the monitor board. Geesh! It is a difference in herpers and one that will likely always be there.

BTW anyone have a absolutely love it incubator design? Or a trusted company for a reliable thermostat. On off is even okay as I think I am going with a design like Brian Bartlett has on his Children's/Spotted sites. Box, thermostat, lights. Simple enough for me.
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Sonya

No argument! Do what you want. But for us one year olds I like mom doing it! Simple. It's about choice.
Incubate them if you wish. Does it matter if we BOTH get the same results? I feel comfortable....and I am not trying to change you.
Enjoy....
RicK

A picture of mom's work.

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RicK Denmon

Ball Boutique,Inc.