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[Bradm89]

Hey Everyone,

just wanted to chase some advise about a little situation i currently have.
basically my issue is that my 6 year old spotted python has just laid a bunch of eggs in her enclosure. seems as though i wasn't observant enough to notice the signs that she was gravid.
so my question i spose is what to do next? this is the first time i have experienced this as i never had any intention to breed my snakes, due to this i dont have any sort of incubating enclosures on hand as i wasn't expecting this. for the time being i have just left her in her enclosure wrapped around her eggs.
conveniently i have managed to loose my keeping and breeding aussie reptiles book <facepalm>
any advise is greatly appreciated

Cheers,

Brad

 

[Ramsayi]

If you are not prepared in any way to either incubate the eggs or care for the offspring then there is nothing stopping you from discarding the eggs.

 

[arevenant]

not to be accusatory, but if you had no intention of breeding, why are you keeping a male and female paired in the same enclosure through breeding season? Or any other time of the year...
Seems like step one in avoiding situations like these is to not have males and females in contact with each other...

 

[Bradm89]

Thanks for the constructive criticism guys, I never do keep them together apart from 2 days a few months ago when my males enclosure thermostat broke and I wanted to keep him warm, obviously the timing was perfect for them.
anyway is there any advise on whether to incubate them or not? I'd like to keep the hatchlings if they were to develop, so any tips on whether they will survive with the female incubating them herself in current conditions?
thanks again.

 

[Prof_Moreliarty]

I am yet to breed snakes myself but advice I've seen on here would suggest keeping enclosure at 30-31c and letting mum do her thing you have to keep humidity up a little bit I believe too. You would also wanna start purchasing hatchy tubs and appropriate equipment for hatchy tubs. heat cords, thermostat, hides, water bowls etc. search DIY hatchy rack on this site to get an idea. Anyway good luck

 

[Bonustokin]

If the eggs are not stuck to the bottom of the enclosure by now, you could make up a dodgy incubator. Ive used an esky with a heat cord and thermo before. An old fridge works well also. If they're stuck and mums looking after them, just let her do her thing. Or as rams said... you could dispose of the eggs and be better organised next year, now that you know you have a breeding pair.

 

[Bushman]

If the ambient temperature is maintained at or just below the optimum incubation temperature, the mother may be able to maternally incubate her eggs. Is she 'shivering'?
It's important to increase the humidity around her and her eggs to help prevent the eggs drying out. I recommend surrounding her with moist sphagnum moss. Do this asap. Keep the cage at optimum temperature at all times until you get time to set up an incubator if you choose to artificially incubate. It's probably too late to separate the eggs by now, as they're no doubt adhered together into a clump.
There's plenty of information and resources available here and on the net and helpful people if you need any advice. Feel free to ask any more question that you may have and read up as much as you can in the meantime.

 

[GBWhite]

Hi Brad.

Mate there's no need to panic and by the sounds of it she's going to do the job herself. I've bread heaps of pythons over the years and have always let the female look after the eggs, never used an incubator.

I leave the female in a ventilated 600ml x 500ml x 500ml ply enclosure with a thermostat set at 30deg C and nothing else except for wooden hide, artificial grass as a substrate and a cat litter tray 3/4 full with water. The female will look after the humidity of the eggs by either drinking water and weeing on the eggs or transferring water from the water bowl to the eggs from water droplets off her body. Just make sure that you replace the water every couple of days.

Cheers,

George.

http://s251.photobucket.com/user/mandrakis/media/S1030532.jpg.html?sort=3&o=15

http://s251.photobucket.com/user/mandrakis/media/S1030533.jpg.html?sort=3&o=16

 

[Bradm89]

Thanks a lot George, you have relieved me a lot. Haha I still have some questions though mate.
at current she has laid her eggs on the grey cat litter pellets which I use as substrate for all my enclosures, are these dry pellets at risk of drying out the eggs? Should I attempt to move her and her eggs to a different substrate? ie fake grass?
her enclosure is 1200x300 x 600high, is this too big? She has chosen the warm end of the tank to lay her eggs but not really close to the heat lamp. In her enclosure it's generally 33 at hot end and 24-28 at cold end. Where she is is around about 30-31, her water bowl is down the cold end, can I just move this closer or should I add a second one right next to her? If I think of any more questions I will be sure to ask.
thanks again for your help, look forward to hearing from you.
cheers,
brad

- - - Updated - - -

And thanks everyone else too, your input is all appreciated. I'm so grateful that everyone on this forum is so nice and happy to help
thanks again

 

[GBWhite]

Don't try and move her or the eggs as you'll run the risk that she'll abandon them. I can't see a problem with the cat litter pellets but add that I've never used them. Personally I'd leave everything as it is and disturb her as least as possible. She won't eat anything during the period of incubation and will probably become defensive of the eggs The size of the enclosure shouldn't have any real effect as she will control the temp and humidity of the eggs. You could move the water bowl a little closer if you want just for her convenience but it doen't need to be right next to her.

Feel free to ask further questions and I hope all goes well with the clutch.

Cheers.

 

[Prof_Moreliarty]

Don't try and move her or the eggs as you'll run the risk that she'll abandon them. I can't see a problem with the cat litter pellets but add that I've never used them. Personally I'd leave everything as it is and disturb her as least as possible. She won't eat anything during the period of incubation and will probably become defensive of the eggs The size of the enclosure shouldn't have any real effect as she will control the temp and humidity of the eggs. You could move the water bowl a little closer if you want just for her convenience but it doen't need to be right next to her.

Feel free to ask further questions and I hope all goes well with the clutch.

Cheers.

Hey mate just wondering if you get many unhatched eggs as that's all I hear/read from people using incubators is that they have a higher success rate.

 

[GBWhite]

Hey mate just wondering if you get many unhatched eggs as that's all I hear/read from people using incubators is that they have a higher success rate.

No not as a rule, maybe one every now and then but it's very rare. In fact the unhatched egg in the forefront of the second photo ended up producing twins. I held back 4 females and 2 males from this particular clutch because of it. They are 4 years old now, females are close to 2m and the males 1.3.

I suppose that it comes down to what floats your boat (lol) but think most people use incubators as a convenience and so they can breed the females the following season. I've seen a lot of failed clutches that have been artificially incubated and also some poor looking juveniles.

I've also hatched Brown Snake, Collets, Spotted Black and Mulga eggs by putting them in a chinese take away container with a few air holes and a bit of moist vermiculite and placing them in a hot box with the thermostat set between 25 & 30degC (same as the pythons). Also hatched Browns by putting them in the same set up and leaving them on a shelf in the snake room.

 

[Prof_Moreliarty]

No worries thanks for info I was gonna wait till my jungles were big enough to have a go at breeding. But I don't think I can wait till 2016 so was gonna buy a breeding pair for 2015 breeding season and was thinking of letting the mum do her thing as it's my 1st time. That said I've been looking at incubators too but I'll see how I go. Cheers Will

 

[Bradm89]

thanks so much for all the replies guys,
so ill give an update to what ive done. i moistened the grey pellets surrounding her, under closer inspection it seems she has pushed most of these pellets out of the way while laying and theyre sitting on the bottom of the tank (i hope this isnt an issue)
the hide she picked to lay in was a bit small as most of her body was out of the hide and it was sort of hovering on top of her, so i removed that off her and cut up a cardboard box and put it over the top of her, she now has a fair bit of room to move.
i placed a bowl of water around 100mm from where she is nested, i also put a bowl next to the heat lamps in the hope that it will evaporate and keep it rather humid in there. i also placed the thermostat probe under the box she is in so the temp reading reflects the temp in her box and not under the heat lamp as it normally would.
im hoping this will all work out well.
even though i wasnt expecting baby snakes, im actually i little excited.
is there any indications shown by mum or the eggs that they are healthy?
also how long can i expect to wait till they hatch. ive read mixed opinions on this time period, some say 45 days and others say 90 days. so if anyone could clear that up it would be great, would also give me a rough idea of when ill need to have hatchie tubs ready.
thanks again everyone, really appreciate all the replies

 

[Prof_Moreliarty]

thanks so much for all the replies guys,
so ill give an update to what ive done. i moistened the grey pellets surrounding her, under closer inspection it seems she has pushed most of these pellets out of the way while laying and theyre sitting on the bottom of the tank (i hope this isnt an issue)
the hide she picked to lay in was a bit small as most of her body was out of the hide and it was sort of hovering on top of her, so i removed that off her and cut up a cardboard box and put it over the top of her, she now has a fair bit of room to move.
i placed a bowl of water around 100mm from where she is nested, i also put a bowl next to the heat lamps in the hope that it will evaporate and keep it rather humid in there. i also placed the thermostat probe under the box she is in so the temp reading reflects the temp in her box and not under the heat lamp as it normally would.
im hoping this will all work out well.
even though i wasnt expecting baby snakes, im actually i little excited.
is there any indications shown by mum or the eggs that they are healthy?
also how long can i expect to wait till they hatch. ive read mixed opinions on this time period, some say 45 days and others say 90 days. so if anyone could clear that up it would be great, would also give me a rough idea of when ill need to have hatchie tubs ready.
thanks again everyone, really appreciate all the replies

45 days seems like the go.
http://www.antaresia.com/antaresia_pythons_breeding.html