Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Posted these on the Rear Fanged Forum but its a ghost town most of the time. Shown is the first to emerge 10 hrs. out of the egg. Started pipping at day 110. 2 more are out and I manually pipped the last egg as nothing was happening. I will not even attempt to offer food for 5 weeks as I learned from earlier clutches they show no interest in feeding prior to that and I probably needlessly stressed them and myself plying them with all kinds of scenting tricks to no avail!

They'll eat when they're ready and live day-old pinks are all the tricks they need!

Outstanding work with this project, as I haven't heard much about producing this species in captivity. Interesting incubation period, and what was your incubator setup and at what temperature?

Kelly

Not too scientific I'm afraid. For this and earlier clutches I merely placed them in large sealed deli cups on a mixture of vermiculite and powdered cocoa husk fiber on a 1:1 moisture mix. They incubated on the bottom of a Boiga Cynodon cage governed by a Herpstat thermometer at a somewhat constant 83F. One clutch was merely placed up high on a shelf in my snake room which is our converted garage.....much more variable temps....from 80F-84F. I'm sorta moving away from a static incubation regimen as far as temps go for Colubrids.

All my Zonata eggs (3 clutches of 6 ea.) are incubating at "room" temps on the floor of the same snake room/garage and temps range from 76F-82F. Never had a problem with them at all.

Bill

I agree and don't believe that highly stable incubation temps are needed for colubrids or other non-brooding species. Daily temperature variations of a clutch of these types of eggs in nature is typically 5 to 10 degrees between day-time highs and night-time lows. Incubation temps anywhere between upper 70's to upper 80's will typically produce good results.

Kelly

Totally agree as well. I have 3 clutches of Zonata eggs cooking now and all are inside the house incubating in the mid-high 70s. Mitch Mulks has proven out that lower incubation temps for Zonata from certain localities will show more complete red bands with reduced black intrusion if incubated at these lower temps. Not for sure but I think also the total number of triads is reduced as well. Either way I'll sacrifice a few extra days just to see!

Bill