Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings all, I am fairly new to Breeding and incubating BP's, I have a clutch that was laid on Mothers day, so if i count 54-60 days I assume that the eggs should hatch next week to the following week. If I am correct, my question is at this time should the eggs be full and robust since the baby snakes are due to hatch soon? I have candled them and they look almost empty except for the veins and slight movement in the eggs. Am I looking at an extended period of time for these eggs to hatch? Sorry for the looong post just confused and excited!

Mike
C&M reptiles

I've not tried candling eggs near the end but I'm told that it's normal that you can't see much since the baby then takes up most of the egg rather than having clear albumen to transfer the light.

Generally the eggs start to collapse near the end and this is actually preferred by some to overly plump eggs with too much hydration.

I don't remember when mother's day was but since May had 31 days and June 30 then 60 days would be the same day in July as they laying day in May minus 1 day.

What temperature are you incubating at? The cooler temps take longer. My new incubator design needs some work as the temp varies through out. I have some that apparently where in the low end around 88.2 that are on day 60 and still not poking their heads out. I have some others that hatched today on day 53 that have been closer to 89 deg F. I wonder if there could also be differences other than temperature that effect incubation time (genetic, how developed they where when laid, etc.).

Best of luck!

Thanks for the response my presen incubaion emp is approx87.2 and goes to 89.2 during day. I have one egg that is sunken in has been that way most of incubation other than that all eggs look and SMell good! I know I need to be patient but this is my first clutch of Balls. Started with Normals to get the experience,waiting for het albino,pied to lay.Hope to prove out the hets this up comming year(joint project ,Thanks BIG RAGU @ CCE)we have het pieds,albinos,the het genetic stripe will hopefully breed next year. Thanks For all the help.

Sorry, Keyboard going out"T"s

That's a lot of daily fluctuation. Let us know how that works for you. I'm thinking the average might be a little on the low end so probably close to the full 60 days.

I didn't realize that that was too much of a fluxuation.I guess that is why I have the prob I have. Thanks for all your help.I will post pics when they pip!!

Thanks
Mike
C&M Reptiles

I'm not sure if that's too much or not. I'm also not at all sure you are having problems as collapsing at the end is common with proper humidity (not collapsing might be something to worry about).

However, with a good proportional thermostat you should be able to hold it within a tenth of a degree or so. I guess I don't understand why yours goes up in the day. Does your background room temp get that hot during the day? Is the incubator under insulated or the heating element underpowered so that it can't reach it's set temperature at night when the background temp drops?

Hi Mike – If your eggs were laid on May 11, then they should be caving in (or perhaps already collapsed) by now. No matter how turgid they have been throughout incubation, they don’t remain that way to the end. Obviously, the timetable of events is temperature dependent, but if your clutch smells okay at this late date, then everything is probably progressing normally.

Good Luck,
-Joan