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Iggy, our Pituophis Catenifer Sayi laid 7 eggs Monday July 1st. This was five weeks to the day after we caught her. When she was caught roughly 90 seconds later another Bull was in the same spot she was initially spotted at & he was captured as well (guessing he was male). This other snake hissed & was constantly trying to slither out of my hands whereas, Iggy (The Wonder Snake) didn't hiss or wag her tail or do any other angered or threatening behavior. It was an easy choice as to which snake would come home with us to be cared for. I've done lots of Google searches about Pituoiphis Catenifer Sayi incubation/egg care & searched on here but, am possibly using the search feature here incorrectly because every time a whole lot of pages come up with no specific content that's being searched for (if that makes sense lol). We are keeping the temp between 78-84 degrees Fahrenheit. With 80.6 being optimal (from a zoology report I found on Google). There's lots of info on Corn Snakes & since Bull's & them are both Colubrid's I've used some of that info to build an incubator. The eggs are on top of a round piece of plastic with moss on top of it- that has water underneath the plastic & an adjustable heating pad under the container as you'll see in the pics. I'm not even 100% sure they're fertile but, considering the circumstances surrounding her capture I'm inclined to believe they are. I'll try "candling" them in a few days to check for signs of life. We're planning on releasing all the hatchlings after they've eaten once- in order to improve their odds of survival in the wild. We will let em' go where we found their mom most likely. Also, most likely, I'll cool the temp down to 75 or so during the first week of August in order for them to soak up their yolk more efficiently & be born as healthy as possible. Any info as far as temp/humidity for this specific species or ones like it would be helpful. Or any other comments would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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Another pic of incubation set-up.
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Others may chime in, and I am no egg expert... I have never seen a set up lie that. Most of the set ups I've seen have been with perlite or vermiculite. You can tell if the eggs are fertile right away by using a pen light and checking for veins I use the flashlight app on my phone, works great. I'm kind of concerned about your eggs being collapsed. I was told last year that they need more humidity when they do this, although I can't imagine why they wouldn't be humid enough sitting surrounded by water.

I'm using sphagnum moss that's kept moist right underneath them & sort of loosely packed, in order for air to get through more freely. I also just added a little bit of water to it (even though it was damp. That egg was a little sunken in yesterday to. I have read that people have or do use sphagnum moss with great results & yes, I've read too about the use of perlite or vermiculite- a downfall, (according to some) is that air doesn't flow through it as well as it does though moss. I JUST tried candling them with a light & can see blood vessels- last night I couldn't see any when I tried but now can-AWESOME! They're fertile!! I'm excited, acheela. Fun, fun!

That's GREAT!! Best of luck to you!! I used moss on my first attempt at hatching eggs...My first clutch all molded, in hind sight I probably should have waited them out, you never know. Second clutch seemed like they were a lot of trouble. It was hard to keep the humidity up enough to where they didn't collapse, and down enough where they wouldn't mold. This time I'm using perlite, about 1/2" that I dampened, and so far it has been great!! The first couple of days, I took the lid off for a little while because there was condensation inside. Wiped the excess off with a paper towel, and they are doing great now. I looked at mine last night, and my first clutch is starting to show movement. Second all still look great. I'm impatiently waiting on my whiteside to lay. I keep getting up expecting eggs, and keep getting disappointed... maybe tomorrow... keep us posted on the progress.

Oh, that's awesome your eggs are doing so good! I can only imagine the frustration you must be feeling with waiting on your Whiteside to lay some eggs down. I'm halfway nervous about growing mold. Some people have said the sphagnum moss inhibits it, some say it produces it. So...what I did today was went to the store & bought some 5% distilled white vinegar. Hopefully, it won't be needed to be used to kill the mold. But, it's here if need be! Yeah, there's a massive amount of condensation in this set-up here & in fact just took the lid off to sort of air it out for an hour or two. the eggs are damp & hopefully, that's a good thing. That's awesome your showing movement in the clutch- too cool!! For sure, I'll post as progress comes about. Same to you! Post some pics when your clutch hatches OR when your Whiteside pops some eggs out, acheela. Thanks for the well wishes!

She's in there doing laps as we speak, it's been 8 days since she shed. She has the hollowed out backbone look going on, although not as bad as my other two moms. I have her nest box all ready, but she spends most of her time stretched out along the front of the glass. She looks miserable.

Congrats on your catch, I love it when that happens!

When working with gophers and bulls I have found that the more work I do to make the environment for the eggs perfect the worse results I get. These days I cover the bottom of a small 9qt sterilite container with vermiculite that is damp (the point at which no additional water can be rung out), put the lid on, and put the eggs on the top shelf of my closet and mostly forget about it. The sterilite container has a few small dremel holes for air flow. Every couple weeks I usually run through the containers and mist the eggs that look like they need it.

Just remember to relax, unless you keep your house an icebox room temperature has always worked great for me. We keep our house at 75 in the summer and the shelf on top of my closet which is on the top floor (where hot air rises) is probably 77-78ish.

Good luck!
-C

I'm going to put mine in the closet right now... I'm busy stressing over them ... lol

Thanks C! YES, I'm excited about the clutch but am not trying to overtly disturb them. I've been checking or someone here (if I'm not) checks the temp. Yesterday, there was some white mold on a few of them SO, I wiped it off & it hasn't come back- I think the humidity was to high. I ended up taking the lid off & placing it back on top but not snapping it on. I guess snake eggs have been hatching on there own for 1000's if not millions of years without human assistance lol. Hopefully, I don't screw them up- if anything the temp is too warm at times...Discovered this link last night & it shows just how tough these creatures are. Check it out! http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/topic/11173#.Udg2i7XnZ0Q

WOW!!! I thought my eggs looked funny, these are just gross!! Good to know about the listerine though. I've only got about 5 more weeks to stress over my first clutch, then they should go like clockwork from there... This does bring to mind another topic...

Nice "CUTCH" of eggs. Is this a new word?

Oops- I had a spelling mishap lol. Just an update on the eggs: They're still in the same set-up. Two of the seven look as if they're not going to make it OR are "slugs". I'll still keep them in hopes that they will somehow, miraculously hatch- they look somewhat deformed compared to the others. I'm still keeping the temp between 78 & 84 with 80.6 being optimal- from an article I read online, it sounded like the best temp to keep them at in order to assure their health.
On an un-related note, I'm about to start building a 2 foot by 5 foot 4 inch cage out of oak & teak wood. It'll be around 27'' or so tall. That way it can accommodate some can lights & it's going to have sliding glass doors on the front as well. I'm excited & will post pics on a diff part of this forum once it's completed. And of course I'll post some pics here of the baby Bulls when they hatch.