Maternal vs. Artificial Incubation

[Franco]

I have successfully bred several species' of snake to date, and have always used artificial incubation for the following reasons:

1. Fear in the loss of deposited eggs;
2. Health issues in the female resulting from maternal incubation; and
3. Fear of damage to the eggs from the mother.

My success as far as hatch rate has always been very high and resulted in healthy hatchlings.
The question I pose to any herpers with experience in breeding is - Have you ever allowed your brooding female to hatch her eggs maternally and if so what were the consequences as far as health issues and hatch rate.

I have read that maternal incubation should only be attempted by experienced breeders. Although I do consider myself experienced I have never considered putting any of my reptiles and that much physical stress - hasn't the gravid female been through enough already without having to incubate.
I know this naturally occurs in the wild but just wanted to hear others opinions on the subject.

Franco

 

[cyber_crimes]

I am actually wanting to attempt maternal incubation this season with a pair of macs. I have always used an incubator but recently spoken to a person that allows ALL hes pythons to maternally incubate (he keeps jungles). IMO I prefer to artificially incubate so as not to lose much weight on the females,but It will be interesting to see the results after maternally incubating a clutch. When incubating maternally I suggest using a bigger box for laying eggs in this way after checking humidity level in the box you can add a smaller box with peat moss etc in to keep levels correct if need be.

 

[Franco]

I have been thinking about conducting a little experiment. I was planning on breeding to pairs of my coastals - females from the same clutch, similar in length and weight. I was planning on weighing them prior to introducing them to their weights, again prior to them laying and again after laying. Then I want to let one female incubate maternally and the other remove the eggs and incubate them. It would be interesting the see the differences in weight between the two females at the time of hatching and then several weeks later to see how well each has recovered.

 

[lutzd]

incubating

Great stuff, Franco. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

[Franco]

I'm still a little hesistant of trying it. If there's anyone out there who has incubated this way, your tips and pointers would be much appreciated.

 

[africancichlidau]

I too would be very interested in seeing the results from that experiment if you decide to conduct it Franco.
If you do go ahead with it keep us posted on it mate