Laying substrate

[Noxious]

Started a thread a while back about providing a suibstrate for gravid females to lay on when the time comes. Some people advised me to use sphagnum moss. This seemed a good choice other then it's acidic nature. Is this ok to use? or should I just provide some damp vermiculite like that, that will be used in the incubator.

Just a little confused.

Also she is looking quite swollen in the back 2/3... But she hasnt gone belly up or had her prelay yet. At what stage do these two things happen? and also do all gravid females go belly up at some stage?

Thanks for any help in advance...

Alex

[krusty]

i just use sphagnum moss for my pythons and it works fine,but i have some mates that just use damp vermiculite and that works fine to.

[ponybug]

not all females go belly up when gravid, i had 2 that didn't and layed and i had one that went belly up and layed no eggs, lol,

pre shed is about 3 to 4 weeks before laying.......

[reptililian]

I gave my girls their nest boxes containing sphagnum moss today. They love them! Last year, though, Patience rejected her nestbox and simply lay in her hide.

[serpenttongue]

Noxious, i mow the lawn, allow the grass cuttings to dry completely and then use it for a substrate. I've never liked the idea of letting them lay on a damp substrate, especially if they're on it a day or two before i pinch the eggs. As long as the female wraps tight coils around the eggs they shouldn't dry out, even on dry substrates. They can maternally incubate eggs with newspaper as a substrate. If you want humidity then it should be created from within the air ( misting/water bowl near heat source) not from the substrate.

The above works for me. I realise others have different methods...

[TrueBlue]

yeah, i dont bother using anything, except a couple of layers of paper on the floor that they cant get under, and 50 odd layers that they can, since doing this even if i put a nesting box in they never use it and perfer to go under the paper.

[reptililian]

I like your idea, Trueblue, but my girls seem so thrilled with their new nestboxes that it would break my heart to take them away again. Particularly Siam, the BHP, and she already has a shallow tub full of shredded paper that she either lays on top of or burrows under.

Serpenttounge, my lawn doesn't get mowed often enough. I kid myself that I'm growing it just incase I find one of those adorable little mini horses that needs a new home!

[dugadugabowbow]

I like using wooden boxes with either a bit of sphagnum moss or nothing, the main reason i like using a box is because you can get the snake(still coiled around the eggs) out of the cage which makes it easier to work around while getting the eggs, otherwise you have to reach into the cage which is tricky, for me anyway.

[hugsta]

I use vermiculite myself, sometimes mixed with sphagnum moss, depending on the species. I also put it into a plastic tub, so I can remove the whole thing to get the eggs out.