> "Why wouldnt a scarlet king lay eggs under a beach umbrella in the back yard?"



> "Do they lay eggs in a particular area in the wild?"





* Well,....unless the umbrella was say lying down in back of a shed closed and half buried in some form of decomposing soil/leaf litter medium, the female would not have any desire whatsoever to choose that as a nesting site. They prefer dark, damp areas in the ground, or rotted logs, etc...to lay in.



On the other hand, those gecko eggs have a hard shell, so all that's really important to their hatching is correct temperature gradient, shade, and humidity from the air, and not so much consistent moisture content from soil and leaf litter. Whereas snake eggs are very soft and have a very leathery texture to them. They absorb moisture from the substrate the female lays them in. If they were deposited out in the open, they would shrivel up and die in very short order.



Below are some eggs that were laid by one of my females just three days ago. Most snake breeders(including me) put a lay box filled with moistened sphagnum moss in with the female just after she sheds her skin a month and a half or so after first breeding. usually 6 to 14 days after this "pre-lay" shed, she will situate herself in the box, and begin to lay eggs.



After egg deposition, the eggs are put into a small container of moist vermiculite, and/or Perlite mixture for an incubation medium. Kept at temps of around 80-82 degrees, they will hatch out in about 63-65 days or so.





best regards, ~Doug










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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

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