Question for Breeders

[olivehydra]

Hello all,
With all the eggs about to arrive for those of you "breeding" I was wondering who if any allow mum to do the incubating as opposed to artificial means? I was reading one of John Coborns books and he stated that he gets better hatch rates if he leaves snakey to do the work. Also have any ever damaged eggs getting mum off them.
Thanks.

 

[The Rock]

I used to sometimes but it takes alot out of the female and I have a much better hatch rate using an incubator, most years 100 percent, yet with mum you tend to lose the odd one from time to time.

 

[Troy K.]

Incubation is the best way to go because it puts you in control. Also by removing the eggs you get more time to prepare your female for the next breeding season.

 

[krusty]

yes i think incubators are the way to go
but i would like to try the female to do it
0nce just to see what hatch rate i get

 

[krusty]

but i don't think i would be game to use
any thing other than a carpet or my spotteds
just incase it whent wrong.

 

[indicus]

Interesting point....
Due to problems in the past with a poor incubator;
I've let the bredli and mac's do the job themselves...
I had a hundred percent each time....
Also the ratio in female juv's seemed quite high?
I'd set the nest box up so the night temps with heating applied, were right.
Of a day i'd just turn the lights off and let her do the job.....
I found providing the female had good condition; after incubation, a few feeds and you wouldnt tell she'd just done the job.
As i said, i'd had hassles with the incubator; so had little choise at the time.....
I'd still agree, providing your incubator is set-up right.....thats the way to go.

 

[africancichlidau]

Yup, I'll go along with what has been said here, it's artificial all the way for me, I get good hatch rates each clutch and feel that it is better this way for the female. This is only conjecture on my part though as I have never tried maternal incubation.

 

[congo_python]

what are your guys standard mixes for water and vericulture?
Congo

 

[africancichlidau]

.9 or 1:1 water/vermiculite usually.

 

[user 270]

What do you do as a precaution against a power blackout?

Cheers,
Wombat.

 

[SLACkra]

they could simply get a generator, also if the incubator is insulated enough i highly doupt the temp will drop to far down. i have no experiene with this though.

andrew

 

[africancichlidau]

What do you do as a precaution against a power blackout?

Personally, I pray !

 

[Pike01]

It shouldnt hurt the eggs cooling off for a short time, it happens in the wild every night.I havent used vermiculite for years now, i just sit them on a wad of paper towel, drip a few drops in each cormer, if theres no condensation on the lid add a few drops in the corners and bobs your uncle, usually get 100%.

 

[Grant]

This is just a tad off topic, but does varying the temp affect the male to female ratio of certain pythons? Just though I'd ask since I know crocodile hatchling gender can be dictated by temp and was curious if this applies with pythons, or even lizards for that matter?

 

[Glimmerman]

Wombat -

I got my uncle from up Nth (Nanango) to fix me up a solar powered UPS (farmers usually have old spares laying around in the shed & an added bonus when he's a sparky for a power station) Worked well in test stages. Kept temps right for approx 36 hours. If Integral Energy can't fix it within that time frame - I'm ........

I've also been told that sand was supposed to help in times of need. You apparently keep sand in a tray in the incubator during the incubation process, which in turn obviously absorbs the heat. When the power fails, the heat from the sand escapes keeping the area regulated for a few hours. This is a generation thing - passed on from an old herp to a new one. Haven't tried it yet though.

Any other suggestions

 

[user 270]

I'm not a breeder but hope to buy one of this seasons diamonds.

I was just wondering what breeders do because I would hate to see people lose a couple of thousand dollars in dead eggs due to a power outage part way though incubation.

Cheers,
Wombat.

 

[Openfire]

well im leaving the incubation to mum this year just too see how she goes,fingers crossed all will hatch.

 

[herptrader]

What do you do as a precaution against a power blackout?

Personally, I pray !

To whom or what?

My incubator is lined with bricks to buffer the temperature. Not only are you protecting against them getting too cold but in Melbourne also against them getting too hot. In the past I have also added some juice bottles filled with water to the incubator for the same reason. The "thermal ballast" takes longer to heat or cool in the event of a power failure.

 

[alexr]

(I have never bread anything other than a couple of kids - and even then I spent most of the time at the pub so take this with a grain of salt)

I saw somewhere (here?) a design that involved a large tank filled with water whose temp. was maintained by an aquarium heater. A smaller tank submerged within it. (I am guessing that if the outer tank was well insulated the water should hold its temp for quite some time). The eggs etc were placed within the inner tank as per normal. (if nothing else it looked pretty cool! - I mean warm....)

 

[Ange]

This is just a tad off topic, but does varying the temp affect the male to female ratio of certain pythons? Just though I'd ask since I know crocodile hatchling gender can be dictated by temp and was curious if this applies with pythons, or even lizards for that matter?

I was thinking the same thing? Can striping also be an effect of temp while incubating? Has anyone explored these?