Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have three ball python eggs incubating -- my first clutch ever. They are in a styrofoam fish shipping box with vermiculite, pearlite and water, and are sitting on top of a dry patch of vermiculite. The container is covered by a piece of glass.

We converted a 1/2 bath into an incubator room. I have an oil based heater connected to a Helix 1500. The LCD readout is outside the room. The sensor is on the inside of the "egg box" -- I felt this would be a better way to get a good reading for monitoring the temperature the eggs are being exposed to.

Yesterday, just for the heck of it, I decided to take a temp gun reading of the eggs themselves. The air temp reading on my Helix 1500 was 89.1 farenheit. I was shocked to discover the eggs themselves were reading 94 and 95 degrees!

I reduced the air temperature to 88 on my Helix control and took another reading today to discover the eggs themselves to be around 90 - 91 degrees farenheit.

The eggs were laid on 5/17. Is this a "normal" phenomenon. Are egg temps usually warmer than air temp? Should the eggs themselves be between 87 & 90 degrees or the air temp? Will the prolonged exposure to higher temps likely lead to egg death or birth defects? Thanks for helping me make sense of this.

Sincerely,
Joe

Hi Joe,

Hmmm....95 degree eggs def does not sound right to me - although I confess I have never put the temp gun on my eggs (gonna do that later today). Those temps need to come down fast!

I find it interesting that you are using a styrofoam container for your egg box - I would not do this, because I want the heat of the incubator to permeate the egg box, and styrofoam and glass are both insulators.

If I am understanding correctly that the probe to your helix is actually INSIDE the styrofoam box with your eggs, then I am betting the temp of your incubation room is above 90 degrees. What is the temp in the incubation room?

I would put the eggs in a plastic shoebox with the substrate mix and put the probe to a digital thermometer near the eggs. I rest the probe on an egg or in the substrate right beside the eggs - I don't leave it hanging in the air. Take the helix probe out of the egg box, and adjust your helix temp until the digital thermometer near the eggs reads 89-90.

Hopefully your high reading was just an blip and you caught it in time.

Also, your substrate looked on the dry side so be sure and add moisture if your eggs start to dimple prematurely.

Good luck, and I'll measure my egg temps later today!

Christy

Hi, Christy. Thanks for your insights. I lowered the Helix temp to 88.5 degrees and took another reading of the eggs, which lowered to 90 and 90.5 degrees.

I bought a small, LED flash light and "candled" the eggs last night. They all glowed pink and had veins inside them, so I'm hoping "so far, so good."

The top surface looks dry because dry vermiculite was sprinkled on top to create a dry patch for the eggs to sit on. One of my eggs is beginning to show minor dimpling, however, so I'll add a little more water to the mix, around the edges of the box.

Your suggestion of getting digital thermometers and putting the sensors right on or near the eggs is an excellent one. What if I were to do that with my Helix sensor, which is currently suspended in the air inside the egg box?

Thanks again for your insights.
Joe

Yes, you could put the helix probe by the eggs inside the egg chamber, since you have only one clutch of eggs. I doubt I would put the helix sensor in an egg box if I had more than one clutch though. Good luck!

Christy