Maternal Incubation

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squeak

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Hi, I have 2 Childrens Pythons who have both laid eggs in separate enclosures. I have decided to let them maternally incubate their eggs. I know not everyone agrees on maternal incubation, but thats my choice...The temp in the tank fluctuates between 28 and 32 degrees. Snake 1 is due to hatch her eggs in 2 weeks while Snake 2 has only laid hers in the last week. Snake 1 is not interested to leave her eggs as far as what I have seen while snake 2 is happy to leave her eggs to get a drink and bask for a short while under the light. Her eggs look nice and white and a good shape. I spray the tank every now and then to increase humidity although I have heard they will urinate on them if they are to dry. Has any one done this before or have any more advice?
 
Haven't done it, but the Complete Carpet Python has interesting reports of maternal incubation in the wild (based on published reports) and in captivity where the authors measured maternal and clutch temps. It is normal for some mothers to leave the clutch to bask for short periods. Temps varied a lot more than we would necessarily assume, but still gave good results. Sounds like the snakes know what they are doing, so let them carry on.
 
One lot of eggs have gone into the incubator as we noticed a fowl smell come from the tank due to a rotten egg. I carefully removed it but must have slightly damaged the next egg which is now going off. Is there any method of removing an egg from a clutch thats stuck together?
 
Cut the egg and suck the contents out with a syringe and cropping needle or if its well developed you can cut the whole end off the syringe (the end the needle goes on) and suck it out that way, then if you wish you can use a tinea (foot powder)powder puffer and put some powder on the inside of the egg shell to stop bacteria developing.
...........solar 17 (baden) :)
 
Have many members in here left their snakes to maternally incubate their eggs? When I have a few breeding females I'd love to try it.
 
Listerine works well also
Cut the egg and suck the contents out with a syringe and cropping needle or if its well developed you can cut the whole end off the syringe (the end the needle goes on) and suck it out that way, then if you wish you can use a tinea (foot powder)powder puffer and put some powder on the inside of the egg shell to stop bacteria developing.
...........solar 17 (baden) :)
 
The biggest drawback to maternal incubation within the keeping enclosure is the difficulty in maintaining sufficient humidity in the usually very dry enclosure space. Spraying the tank 'every now & then' will not be enough to do this. Snake eggs need high humidity to prevent dehydration, and female pythons find suitably stable and humid places to lay and incubate.

We artificially incubate python eggs in close to saturated humdity, and this is what you should try and replicate in the maternal incubation environment.
Dessication is death to python eggs.

Jamie
 
its interesting because andyh who was the breeder of my stimson said that the clutch he let maternally incubate turned out better temperment wise and feeding wise than the machine incubated clutches. and seriously Keiko has been a dream of a snake, she honestly doesn't get angry or defensive at anything unless its the cat or shes getting food.

i can handle her right up to 10mins before she sheds and shes fine, but on the other side i have a friend whose 1mtre coastal you can handle but its very fussy and it was machine incubated.
 
Óne of my Spotteds incubated her own eggs, six out of seven eggs hatched. She laid in a foam box with vermiculite.
 
Óne of my Spotteds incubated her own eggs, six out of seven eggs hatched. She laid in a foam box with vermiculite.

Yep - if you set them up properly prior to laying there's usually no problem. The difficulties arise when they don't have a dedicated incubation container with stable conditions.

J
 
Ive found that just a lunch box style nest box with sphagnum located in the centre of the enclosure works great for my stimmies as long as it doesnt get too hot the female looks after the rest.
 
Maternal Incubation update. We so far have 7 healthy hatchlings. Mum has done it all by herself. She decided not to use her laying box, instead she swept clean an area in the tank. Temperatures have fluctuated in the tank from 20 degrees the first couple of days because we were unaware she had eggs because she laid them in her hiding hole. When we found the eggs we kept the temp fluctuating between 28 and 32 degrees celcius using a thermostat, so she didnt have to work as hard to keep them warm. I swapped the hidy hole for a clear hidy hole which I made out of a plastic container so I could watch the process. I didn't do anything about the humidity as I heard she will urinate on the eggs when they get to dry. Humidity in the tank during incubation did not drop under 50%. When mum moved her head one day I could see the eggs were saturated. So that proves they do urinate on them. I did have a fair size water dish in there. Mum never left the eggs at all. We are now enjoying the hatching process. So far 7 hatchling wighing between 8 and 11 grams.
 
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The 'urinating' on them is a strange one. I too have read this, but I doubt if it's true. If you wet python eggs, even for a short time, they die because the gas exchange is reduced and they suffocate - condensation on the lid of an eggbox, dripping onto the eggs, is a surefire way to kill the developing youngsters within. For a few days prior to hatch, the eggs may 'sweat' a bit because they lose a lot of moisture at that time, (hence the 'collapsed' look) but as for urinating on them then sealing them off with coils to keep them wet - I'm very doubtful of this...

Jamie
 
How do I post photos on my thread?

How do I post photos on my thread?



Maternal incubation all the way!!!! 10 eggs and 10 hatchlings. Job well done. Big feed for mum to bring her condition back up. I would suggest it to anyone. Let nature take it's course.

Maternal incubation all the way!!! 10 eggs, now 10 hatchlings 100% success rate. Would recommend it to any one. Let nature take it's course.

Maternal incubation 100% success rate. 10 eggs, now 10 hatchlings. I recommend it to any one. Let nature take it's course.
 

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awesome!

if my diamond lays (which im pretty sure she will) im gonna let her try that too,... :)
 
our Jungle cleared a spot on the floor of the enclosure to lay her eggs, she did not use the hide we set up for her with spagnum moss. The spot she chose is just off to the side of a ceramic heat lamp. Not sure if this is the ideal spoit but how can you go against nature as she picked where to lay them :)
This is our first clutch of eggs and from what we can see she has 8 eggs. Just have to hope now is that we keep conditions right for her :)
P1010018.jpg03122011103.jpg
 
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