Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have incubated eggs with the traditional methods before but this time I am going to let my 11 y/o female take care of them. I have the cage temp at 78 with a 93 hot spot. She is in a rubbermaid container with cypress mulch There is a water bowl within the container as well as a water bowl over the hot spot. She has an access hole cut in the lid to come and go if she wants to thermoregulate.
I just do not think that this species requires the standard 88 temp with 100% humidity.
I have hatched many of these and it would be nice if I could throw these on a room temp shelf with my colubrid eggs.
The snake world will go on if this fails and we can all benefit from the answer.
Funny thing is that even if I was able to hatch these eggs at 80 degrees over say 70 days, No one would do it. There is a lot of misinfo about incubation and people would be amazed at some of the temps that I have used with 100% hatch rates.
I guess we are all a little scared to test the waters but I feel that even one or two eggs out of a clutch is worth a try.
So everybody crank up your 90 degree 100% humidity mold boxes for your childreni but the last time I checked, they lived in the desert like me.
Thanks.....Adrian Reed

Have you observed her shivering to raise the egg temps? where did you locate that nesting box in terms of the hot side and the cooler side?
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phflame

Good luck with them. I know a few people that let there chondros incubate their own eggs and have better luck than if they did it themselves. You have a great attitude about it.

Adrian,
I think it is great that you are going to allow your female to maternally incubate the eggs. With the proper setup and conditions, I have found maternal incubation of python eggs to be as successful as artificial incubation. Not to mention the interesting natural behavior that is observed. I would also agree with you that Antaresia sp. do not quite require the 88 degree, 100% humidity that is typically the standard artificial incubation conditions used by most. However, field studies in Australia of several python species brooding eggs in their natural environment have shown that with all of them, the females are maintaining the egg mass at a mean temperature of 86 to 87 F. There are diurnal cycles obviously due to air temp. changes, but that was the mean they were consistently finding. While Antaresia was not checked specifically, I would guess that their natural incubation temp. would be very close to these. In the distant past, the times that I did artificially incubate childreni, I always used 87 F with 90% humidity and always had great hatch rates. Additionally, while some of the larger Australian python species have shown to be able to physiologically thermoregulate by endogenous heat production, Antaresia have never been shown to be capable of this that I know of. Your setup sounds good, although I would be inclined to keep the background temp. of the cage a little higher, as in the low to mid-80’s. I agree that the eggs would probably hatch successfully when incubated in the low 80’s although with an obviously extended incubation period. What species have you had success with incubating at lower temps and what were the conditions? Keep us posted. Thanks,

Kelly

I would also like to see a pic of your overall housing for the mom. I have a gravid female that I would like to allow to incubate her own eggs so I am curious what your setup is!

Thanks

I will take some better pictures of the setup and get more detailed temp and humidity info posted. I hate to say it but I have experimented with lower temps before but my subjects are usually the less expensive animals..spotted, macklots, balls. Reality is harsh. Some eggs seem bullet proof like macklots and others not so. I think the number one issue is to go with a certain temp/humidity and stick with it. Change can be bad. I am going to make a point of keeping better records this time so I have something to work from. Or maybe I should just get more Rosy boas...can I mention those animals in this Forum?
Thanks..........Adrian Reed