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Are ant snakes sex determined by incubation temps or is it only for leopard geckos? Other question, Indigos incubated at lower temps will they evolve healthy just slower or is it a serious problem? Just curious...

A snakes sex is determined by chromosomes (W,Z) in the same manner that our is determined by chromosomes (X,Y).

That being said, there are some breeders out there who are certain that they can effect the sex ratios by incubation temperature manipulation.

A certain local breeder got a 1.15 ratio of a certain species. He is an extremely reliable breeder and not one to mess up that kind of stuff. You mathmaticians can do the calculating and tell us the odds of getting 15 females out of 16 eggs in a single clutch with chromosomes being the determining factor (50/50 chance of being male or female with each egg).

Indigos incubated at lower temps take a little longer, but do fine.

Doug T

>>Are ant snakes sex determined by incubation temps or is it only for leopard geckos? Other question, Indigos incubated at lower temps will they evolve healthy just slower or is it a serious problem? Just curious...

I have never believed that temperature effected sex ratio except in some lizards, crocodilians and possibly turtles?

I don't doubt it's possible, but I have not seen any evidence of it in my personal collections.

Please keep in mind that too high is much more dangerours than a little cool in indigo incubation.

Temps. over 80F have been commonly attributed to causing spinal kinks and even worse deformities or death in developing indigo eggs. Temps of 76-79F seem to be ideal, at least in captive clutches.

If my clutches get to 74, I don't panic at all, but if I see 81, I start to worry !!

Temps over 80 degrees cause a litany of things to occur:

Spinal kinks

Deformities

Death in egg before pip to hatch

Temps in the 74-78 degree range usually do not have these problems associated with them. Keep in mind, that though the temp may be a CONSISTANT 74-76 degrees, all it takes is one good temp spike for a prolonged period of time(10-24 hrs) to cause the above anomalies to occur. I would err on the side of caution and keep the temps low, factoring in such things as climatic weather conditiond(i.e. Santa Ana Winds) which can and will change things, but not for the better.

Additionally, I have found that higher incubation temps DO affect sex ratios, but again, they also usher in a litany of problems even more serious(As stated above)

Sincerely,

Fredrick Albury

the tongue coming out of the nose thing fred? Too bad that little guy didnt survive, he would have been a real fun pet.

Possibly..

I sold Zack an Eastern Indigo awhile back that had a defect that COULD have been caused by temp fluctuations. This time of the year isnt to much of a challenge, but summer represents something entirely diffrent, with temp spikes occuring from warm santa ana winds...raising temps into the 90's and even up to 100. Massive use of Air Conditioning and thermostats are in order. Its a challenge.

fred

I remember that summer. That was my first time living in La Mesa during the summertime, yeck!

?

I have found that if I can maitain consistent temperatures that range from approx. 75-78 deg F that I typically have a 100% success rate. I once had a clutch that was exposed to a 10-hour temp spike that hit around 85 deg F and all of the hatchlings had various defects, kinks, etc. and unfortunately, they couldn't be kept either as pets or breeders.

Fred, I forgot to get back to you about your request for the hatch date of your indigo. She was born on June 30, 2004. Hope that helps.

Rob Carmichael

>>Are ant snakes sex determined by incubation temps or is it only for leopard geckos? Other question, Indigos incubated at lower temps will they evolve healthy just slower or is it a serious problem? Just curious...
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL