Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I told you I didn't do relax really well and this whole thing is new so that is not helping.
My BP, 4 eggs. Today a week into incubation, she left them....but wait, there's more. It is hot here in NY and even though my Chamber of Secrets is in the cellar it did reflect the heat a few degrees. So the BP tank that I have been aiming to keep 86-88 and about that for % humidity was up in the 88-90degree mark. I had noted her on the nest in passing and then went to get a night light bulb because it made me nervous that the ntl was 81 a few nights ago and she was tight on the eggs and ....anyway. I have a 40 watt on daytime and got a 25watt red night bulb. But I digress (if you have input please oh please add it!)

Get back from Wally world and she is gone....well, under the paper in the middle of the tank, to one side of the UTH. NOT with the eggs. I had a momentary heart attack and weighed all the possibles and reached in and finished changing the water....which she gets moss it (getting drinks I guess). She is under the paper and I figure, WTH and quietly place a prekilled Gerbil near her. I also descreetly weighed the eggs. I didn't have a narrow beam light to candle them and they are 'thicker' feeling than my Childrens eggs (which, btw are going nasty..so maybe that is a good thing) Not knowing the feel of good vs bad vs too hard etc I let that pass and then noticed TICKS on the eggs...or at least in the seams where they are adhereing to each other. 8 or 10 fat nasty grey ticks! Not happy, since she has been with me a couple years, not noted any ticks since first got her (2 yrs ago) and she has even been vet checked etc. Anyway. Brushed ticks off (and crushed and bleached the container and set fire to the .....) put the eggs back and went away to hope she would eat and return to them. She enjoys torturing me...for 3 hours. When night fell and temps dropped a squeege she went back to the eggs. PHEW! She did NOT take the Gerbil but "You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" She coiled at me when I took out the Gerbil and is staying with them again.
So, just to prove she could Urbi decided to take a break from the mom thing. Wouldn't we all like to do that?
One week down....a gazillion to go.
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Sonya

With incubators that will hold temps perfectly at aruond $40, why not just go buy one? Is it really worth the worry of not having your temps right etc?

Christy

>>With incubators that will hold temps perfectly at aruond $40, why not just go buy one? Is it really worth the worry of not having your temps right etc?
>>
>>Christy

Because I have the $40 incubator that DOESN'T hold it's temps and it made me look into different thermostats and all and so I am more or less 'incubator shopping'. 'Sides, that incubator is full. I didn't count on buying in a gravid when she got here Children's python and didn't think fast enough about space and all the possibilities up to now. (Distracted by a kid who has been sick basically all summer and running a fever for 4 days in the 90 weather) So, I am getting one, either today (if they are open on Sunday- small town) or tomorrow as I found someone local with hovabators finally in stock. Meanwhile she is off of them again this morning so I think she is panicked or her maternity wore off. Temps are still mid to high 80s around the eggs so hopefully nothing got chilled. Live and learn.
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Sonya

Sonya,

Sorry it's not going well. I don't have the experience to back it up but I wonder if she is stressed out from too much visibility or perhaps it is just the higher temps.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do with them now!

I've heard this about ticks from LTC going to eggs before. I wonder if they somehow hide in the vent for years? Yuck! Maybe they can be passed at breeding. I'm not sure if there is a sure fire way to get rid of these guys on imports, maybe some kind of fumigation or internal meds.

You may be right and she is/was too stressed (she is a sensitive soul) but I didn't think she would go back a second time so I took them out to a hovabator yesterday. (She left them again during the night)
I am gonna strip out her cage and provent a mite it and all and her mates. (While my dh is home for the day to help heft the tanks up and down- they are on top of the iguana enclosure (4 ft up and they are 50 breeders)

Getting a hovabator is a world of difference! I had had a Little Giant and it is really NOT meant to go lower than 100 degrees and fought with me all the time. It took longer to adjust and was not as stable. Like it was bucking temps all the time. Plus the hovabators thermostat is the wafer and works so much better! More room too etc.
So, the eggs are in that and look okay. Don't know if they will make it with all the fussing but I am learning tons and certainly getting better.
Off to the salt mines.
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Sonya