Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, this is a pretty special day for me. This is my first time ever breeding anything, an of all things to be first....Eastern Indigos. So yesterday the female laid one infertile egg the big oblong one to the side. Then all last night she did nothing but make me worry. This morning she laid another small infertile egg then pushed out 8 good eggs and one more infertile one for a total of 11. She started up at 10:30am and finished around 5pm. She is pretty thin now but is back to herself as far as personality she even rattled her tail a little when I took the after shot of her. QUESTION: Anything special I can do as far as rehabilitating her and fattening her back up (comments or suggestions)? Now I just wait and watch. Two of the eggs have weird ends one is kinda green and weird, might be from the moss. They are the first two in the top left hand corner.QUESTION The three duds on the paper towel are no good right? And what about the two with the weird ends...what do you think will become of those? Im really blessed to have been able to experience this, hope they all hatch...

after shot

weird ends look like this up close

greenish weird one

Look at that texture

whole batch

the duds

shot of good eggs

hope you guys didn't mind all the pics...

the ones with the green ends don't look good. however, you should always incubate everything, just in case.

Outstanding! The bad eggs are. Yes, keep the questionable ones. There's a good chance you'll lose one or two others at hatching with babies that come out kinked. Invest in a thermometer. After reading forum this year I won't let any Drymarchon eggs get above 80 degrees F. Target is 75. Once I always kept different Colubrid eggs on top shelf of snake room. Then I went for the middle shelf a few years ago. Now they're on the bottom shelf. I would feed female all she'll eat until next shed. Then go back to her usual routine.

CONGRATS ZACH!!!!!

My advice: Toss the eggs that are obviously misshapen and yellow(Dont laugh, my first time around I actually INCUBATED those...with lousy and smelly results

Secondly, as Steve said keep the rest of the eggs that you classified as good. Keep an eagle eye on the two that show yellow coloration at their apex(Ends) If those two start to smell , toss them also) People will say not to toss any until hatch time, but I have "Nurtured" my fare share of eggs that ended up being smelly cheese balls(Oh God...the smell!!...)

As for the remainder....make sure that incubator has enough air circulation(Did you get the air circulation model?)

And for GODS sake...dont let the temps spike or go over 80. Much less is better. 74-75 is ideal.

You may or may not produce ones with kinked spines or dead in shell, a lot of it is sheer luck. If they all come out good you and I are going to Barona Indian Casino to capitalize on your good run of luck and make some real money

Congrats again and am sorry I wasnt able to get back to you in a more timely fashion, work and volunteering in my daughters class in the creation of the perfect Easter Egg has kept me pretty busy

**God Bless You**

Fred Albury

P.S.
Now that youve bred Indigos, it is time you graduated to something even more difficult and hard to breed. I recommend BOELENS PYTHONS....or perhaps Green Tree Monitors

Sounds like a plan Stan...

Congratulations Zach, you did good.

Those odd shaped eggs may hatch, particularly the larger one. I hope you planted them too. If they start to collapse, then they are dead, and remove them. The eggs with the poorly calcified ends may blow open, particularly in a moist environment, killing the embryo. The gestation temperature may have been too high, or the female's diet may need more calcium.

By the way, where did you get such a nice pair of Easterns? Did you raise them yourself from hatchlings, or did some Dumbo sell them to you as adults?

Take care, Robert Bruce.