Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was going to give this girl the year off but
couldnt help myself. Helen layed 10 eggs all good.
First 4 eggs came out before going to work. When
I got hm the other 6 were out. She was coiled on
top of the eggs. All the eggs had hardend fairly
well so they were passed a few hours before I got
to them. How long would she have stayed with them
in what appeared to be incubation.She had plenty
of space to move around but choose to stay with
the eggs.HMMM! Mr Fuller? Robert Bruce are you
out there? This pairing was to a red throat
male A#1 and red throat Helen.

Thanks
Seth

Congratulations! I don't know the answer to your question. I would be too worried to try to find out. ASAP I want to get eggs set up in box to incubate. I've sometimes had to leave female in midst of laying in order to go to work. Would come home mid-day for a few minutes to remove any eggs deposited during morning. I guess the longest I've left eggs with mother would be 3-4 hours.

Thanks!
I Wouldnt want to wait and observe
what she would do myself. Ive been
lucky enough to always have been
there. They always start laying in
the night or early early morning here.
I wait at the gate for each egg to drop
going back and forth to the incubator.
They never seem to mind me taking the eggs
away.
I have a hunch that they would stay with
the eggs due to exhuastion.Hunger would kick
in and they'd venture out. Would they come
back? What role does the female play after
the eggs are layed in the wild. I will ask
the scientistas at project Orianne and post
my findings. Though I think the role they play
is minor. How little I know about these creatures
after all these years.
Successful incubation to all.
Seth

Hi Seth,

The female will stay with the eggs for another day or so after laying is finished. Then they'll come out for good. When the females are finished laying eggs (and during laying) they are in kind of a semi-comatose state. They have no inclination to leave until their heads clear up. Yanking them out of the egg box tends to get them back to reality pretty fast (and it is pretty disturbing to them as well). In captivity (and in the wild) Eastern Indigo females won't revisit or stay with their eggs. Once the embryo has floated to the top inside of the egg (several days) the eggs can't be toppled or rotated so it is disadvantageous for the female to be interacting with them. Chicken eggs need to be rotated but this will kill Indigo eggs.

I remove my females right away because I need to check them for eggs still inside them. Usually these are slugs. If you get to the female late in the same day that laying started (laying usually starts at or before sunrise like you mentioned) then any slugs can usually be manually moved out easily. Females don't seem to have the urge to pass slugs like they do fertile eggs.

You are having remarkable fertility results. Congratulations.

Robert Bruce.

Hi Robert, I knew one of you guys would know.
Probably something you knew 20 years ago.
Very interesting information and I appriciate
your responce. It coincides with what ive observed.

As for the fertility of my eggs. It probably has
alot to do with my husbandry. Ive been following the same
breeding guidelines that youve been doing for years.
Ive had my share of failures and probably will in the
future if I stay with this hobbie. All my breeding females
to this point have come from you. I have reached out for
new blood in other directions for the future.

I try to give them a varied diet,keep them well hydrated,
I use light supplements,I dont feed the adults as much as
I used to. Especially the females. Probably should the males
too but Everyone loves the 71/2 foot 15lb showindigo. Me Too!
I should give them more natural sunlight and most important
I need to give them more excercise. I used to take them to the
park To run but People come up nonstop and the indigos seem to
get overstimulated from contact and they dont like being off
the ground too much. For me easterns are easy to breed but
problematic as hell from there to when and IF they pass ALL
the eggs.
Thanks again
Seth