Hi Scott,
Sorry haven't been up and about as much on the forums lately.
Ok first things first, as often as I have seen it now, it is still very difficult to get a good view as to whether or not it is viable copulation or not. The only thing I can tell you for sure, my female has now bread for her fifth time this year, is there seems to be a consistency of 18 days post copulation to when she lays. Mind you, this is 18 days post cop, from the last witnessed time they bred, not the first. If she is robust and swollen like a balloon and on the lower half of her body, the chances of her being gravid are better than average. If she has slowed down on feeding as much or at all and is still getting bigger and tighter looking then I would think she probably is.
Now the male, I only remove my male a few days before she is supposed to drop. "My pair" seem to enjoy each others time so I only separate them for a biy, long enough for her to nest and drop in peace then I put him back when the eggs have been collected. Remember this is just my experience and some otheres may remove the male immediatly after the last copulation, but these two have been together since they were hatchlings.
My female is actually dropping again this weekend and this will be her largest clutch to date. She is 1.3 pounds heavier than her last four so I am expecting roughly 35-40 eggs but, I'm sure Frank will agree with me here, never expect anything it will always be a surprise.
As far as nesting goes currently I am using a mix of sand, peat, a little perilite and just plain old dirt. Mixed well and moist enough to just clump but not at all wet. I have switched over to a new enclosure 6X4X4 and the medium is filled up to 18 inches, so mine have room to burrow now and nest properly. My first time out I was using a large sweater box filled with sand and peat, and that just didn't give my female the security or space she really needed. Although I have some nice hatchlings from that clutch it was probably her worst and most stressing dropping to date.
Your temps sound good make sure that she ends up nesting somewhere in the middle of your high and low temp areas. Eggs need to be incubated at 84 degrees give or take and she will nest where that temp is most consistent to that. Just remember we are not talking about surface temp but roughly 8 or more inches below the surface to the egg chamber. Remember, she has no clue your going to go in there and take them all out.
Last thing the moment the base of her hips starts to shrivel up figure 24-48 hours later your going to catch her laying.
Now this is only what has happened to me but from what I have researched this is pretty typical timing give or take a day.
Best of luck. Just remember eggs no matter how bad they may look can still be viable. They cannot be candled, and as I have learned from Frank and from my own experience, it takes almost three full months before any vein work is visible. So incubate them all and if they are duds or are going to die they will and you will know.
Take care,
JC
