Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female has been basking in her hot spot at 90 degrees lately. She has been breeding once or twice a week with two males since November 11th. I haven't noticed a body swelling, and her last breeding was two days ago. Am I reading too much into this? As a snake-breeding-virgin, everything excites me!

So, in hope of eggs, I have been building an incubator out of a 25q cooler. I decided to use Big Apple's heat rope, because I saw another incubator made with it and it looked easier than wiring flexwatt. But now I have questions. Has anyone used this with success? How should I place it in the incubator, will electrical tape keep it in place without being a fire hazard? Can it touch itself? It will be controlled by a thermostat set to 89 degrees, and I also plan on installing a small fan into the side of the cooler to eliminate hotspots and keep ventillation coming to the eggs.

I used the heat rope last year in a 120qt. Igloo. I had 2 clutches of chondro eggs and it worked quite will. Make sure not to let the rope touch itself. This is where you can have a fire hazard. I taped my in a zig-zag pattern on the bottom of the cooler and it worked fine. I wouldn't worry about the fan too much. Use a heat sink in the bottom to keep from having hot spots. For this, I used several shoeboxes of water with lids on them. You can also cut a piece of plexi-glass to fit inside the top so you can open the lid without losing all the heat. I'm getting ready to fire it up again. More chondros on the way and hopefully some ball pythons. Good luck.

Brandon Osborne

Good luck with your chondros. They are my dream snake, but I will wait a few more years so they get the experienced keeper they deserve.

I taped my rope into the cooler in a zig-zag and plan to have two smaller tupperwares filled with water for the heat sink. This cooler is pretty small. I'm almost ready to start it on a test run. thanks for your advice.

Good luck. It's about time for me to get mine fired up........a week ago. lol. Let me know how it works out for you. I've always used hovabators for balls and burms, but this should work fine. Now if only I could incubate chondros and balls together.

Brandon Osborne