Egg incubation!!

[Joel1]

Hey guys,
Just wanted some tips on egg incubation. If anyone reading this has hatched Darwin Carpet Pythons in Vic, I would love to know about your set-up. I have a pair of albino Darwin's and I'm comfortable on what to do up until the female lays her eggs. Basically I'm asking how exactly do I set up the eggs for the 55 to 60 days?

 

[CameronWright]

hi joel, im not sure about ur question but, how are you breeding them?
im in vic as well and have a pair of darwin carpet pythons and I'm not sure if i should cool or not? are you going to cool them?

 

[Joel1]

Well at the moment the have a room temp of 25oC and a basking sight of about 27.5 with no night heat but hides are situated on heat mats that are permanently on 25oC. In winter there cage temp will be set around 23oC.

 

[CaptainRatbag]

Sounds a bit cool to me? According to 'Keeping and Breeding Australian Pythons' By Mike Swan, the enclosure should be at 29 degrees. The mentioned book is worth getting, lots of good info.

Being a Darwin, it would like hotter days then the cool nights. I'm sure someone will advise you of the correct temp soon, if not, look into it further.

 

[Wrightpython]

29 is to hot when cooling 23 and lower ive had mine as low as 10 degrees

 

[whyme]

Around mid to late May, I drop the temps to 24. If your dropping temps early to breed, make sure the female has some size on her first. If not, wait until next year. When she starts laying, harvest the eggs and bang 'em in the incubator, which you will have going already, then wait 60 odd days. Do you have an incubator?

 

[Joel1]

In summer they have a basking spot of 30.5 and a cage heat kept at 28.5.

No I don't have an incubator, that's what I need advise on...

I understand the eggs need to go in an egg box, with a 50/50 mix of vermiculite and water. but where do I place the egg box to keep it at 31.5 degrees.?

 

[whyme]

The eggs go in an "egg box with a 50/50 vermic mix" if your going to put them in an incubator. If you have'nt/don't want/can't afford an incubator, let the mother cook 'em.

 

[Joel1]

Everything is fine, I figured out what I'm going to do

 

[No-two]

All you people saying to cool the basking temps down around 23 and 24 in winter must be retarded. Way..... Too cold. How will the snake ever get any heat if its cold both at night and during the day with no hot basking spot to warm up? I tell you what though, give it a go, a cool snake is generally a very inactive snake, one clutch less of albino darwins on the market I guess.

With the eggs though wet perlite or vermiculite with the eggs on some egg crate just keeping them off of the substrate.

 

[whyme]

All you people saying to cool the basking temps down around 23 and 24 in winter must be retarded. Way..... Too cold. How will the snake ever get any heat if its cold both at night and during the day with no hot basking spot to warm up? I tell you what though, give it a go, a cool snake is generally a very inactive snake, one clutch less of albino darwins on the market I guess.

With the eggs though wet perlite or vermiculite with the eggs on some egg crate just keeping them off of the substrate.

24 odd degrees does'nt mean they don't have a basking spot. It still might be 28 odd on the warm end, and I run high, not long cages for my jungles, so they can still bask on their shelves. Basking temp is not hide temp, and with sphag in the box, the laybox temp usually comes up anyway. Cheers. P.s. I'm not retarded, inebriated maybe!!!!

 

[leamos]

There's a few good articles on breeding and incubation on the SXR website - Untitled Document
and there's another article on the herpshop page thats worth a read