Salato is a wildlife education center in Frankfort, KY. We had our yearly "Herpetology House" about a week and a half ago, so we "stocked up" on species, one of which was the eastern hognose snake. Much to my surprise and delight, one of the snakes we caught laid a clutch of 24 eggs (plus one dud) on July 2nd. Since we are completely unprepared and unequipped to handle eggs of any nature, we called a local reptile zoo, and they gave me instructions on how to pack them in vermiculite. We've kept them in the boiler room(it sounds barbaric, but it's really not) because the temp was about 85 or so. My main concern is that we had a cold front move through and the temp dropped to a daytime max in the upper 70's for a few days. Should I worry? Is there any other way to maintain temp without rigging up an incubator (we don't have the resources). I was afraid to use a light or heat pad. I thought it would get too hot. We do have lights and heat pads we could use if that would be the best route. We also have a ringneck that laid 5 eggs a few days ago. I'm more concerned about hers because we don't have as much substrate around them and I worry about temperature changes. I'm unbelievably new at this. I can do info, but we've never expected to hatch anything before. Please help me.
Maranda Denson
Salato Wildlife Education Center
