female incubation ?

[daveyg1]

for those of you that have let your female
pythons incubate their own eggs. id like to
know how you done it. substrates,
boxes, temps, water, hatch rates
and anything else you might like to add.
cheers

 

[serpenttongue]

Thinking of doing it, huh Davey? It's a bit risky.

I have done this with diamonds both inside and outdoors. These are some things that you should take into consideration:

Make sure she lays in a box thats not too cramped, but also not too big that she cant form a good beehive coil. Supposing you need to get her off the eggs, you will need a decent amount of space around her body for you to get your hands under her.

The substrate in the box should always remain dry. Damp substrates will kill the clutch from the bottom eggs up. This can be very hard to notice when there's a python constantly wrapped around them.

The box in which she will be laying should be kept in a cool area of the cage. It's much better to have the female working to keep them warm in a cool area, than to have her in a warm area and not doing much of the work. If indoors, dont let her lay eggs up the warm end. If temps get too warm she will leave the eggs and wont return until the temps cool considerably(which could be hours).

Also make sure the female is in good condition with good weight. Dont let her incubated eggs if she laid eggs the previous season. She needs at least 2 years off if she's going to attempt maternal incubation.

Overall, it is very risky and not worth doing, but if you decide to do it let us know how you go.

Good luck
regards serpenttongue

 

[daveyg1]

thanks serpent
does anyone else have other techniques