What do I do after the BP eggs hatch next week???

[Jayare]

So my 1st clutch of 8 eggs are due to hatch on Monday the 16th of May. (day 60) (Normal X Champagne)

I put all the babies together in 1 tub on wet paper towels, right? And for how long?
Do I put a bowl of water in there with them or wait till after the 1st shed?
Don't feed any of them until AFTER the 1st shed?
At what time do I separate them in a tub by themselves?
What temp do I set the Thermostat to for the new babies?
What substrate should I use for them? I use Aspen for all my other snakes.
I'm going to plug in the shoe box rack on Tuesday so I need to know all the right steps for them.
The shoe box rack is in my snake room and the ambient room temp is 80 degrees.

Thanks for any and all the helpful tips you have for me.

Jayare

[Eric Alan]

Congrats! I bet you can hardly stand the wait at this point!

I keep my hatchlings together in one tub in the incubator on damp paper towels with a water bowl until they have their first shed. Once that happens, they get moved to their own tub in the hatchling rack. Those are set up very similar to my adult racks - same substrate & hot spot temp. When they're settled in there, I start offering food weekly. After they take their first meal, they go on the every 3-4 days schedule as they grow.

Good luck to you!

[Jayare]

Thanks Eric,
So set the thermostat to 90 in the hatchling rack?

[stickyalvinroll]

you have too many BPs to be asking a question like this. But yes 90 is a good hot spot temp

[greco]

Last year I tried putting a handful of damp sphagnum moss in each one of the hatchling tubs for the first month or so. I got the idea from Chris Wofford, and it seemed to work out pretty well. The moss gives them something to hide in, making them feel a little more secure. All but one of my hatchlings ate on the first try. The one that didn't eat the first time did eat on the second try. I start my hatchlings on live mouse hoppers and switch them to frozen/thawed rat fuzzies ASAP.

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[greco]

To further clarify, I use Viva paper towels in the hatchling tubs and just add the moss on top of that.

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[rlditmars]

So my 1st clutch of 8 eggs are due to hatch on Monday the 16th of May. (day 60) (Normal X Champagne)

I put all the babies together in 1 tub on wet paper towels, right? And for how long?
Yes. You can leave them all in one tub in the incubator with wet paper towel and a bowl of water.

Do I put a bowl of water in there with them or wait till after the 1st shed?
See above

Don't feed any of them until AFTER the 1st shed?
Actually I would wait until after they have all shed and then had a couple days to settle into their new space. That way you can try to start them all on the same schedule. As long as they have absorbed their yolk sac they can go a while without food. Some that don't start eating right away will go 5 weeks or more so a couple days won't hurt them.

At what time do I separate them in a tub by themselves?
Just move them into their own tub as they shed

What temp do I set the Thermostat to for the new babies?
Set it to a temperature that when you check with a thermometer/temp gun the hot spot is holding between 87 and 90 consistently. Sometimes the thermostat needs to be set a little higher than the temp desired because of loss in transfer to the tubs.

What substrate should I use for them? I use Aspen for all my other snakes.
For babies I prefer to use paper towel while I am getting them started, but that's just me. You can use whatever you are comfortable with. Remember that babies are just figuring things out for the first time so their methods are far from perfect. They may accidentally ingest aspen in the process.

I'm going to plug in the shoe box rack on Tuesday so I need to know all the right steps for them.
The shoe box rack is in my snake room and the ambient room temp is 80 degrees.

Thanks for any and all the helpful tips you have for me.

Jayare

[PitOnTheProwl]

you have too many BPs to be asking a question like this. But yes 90 is a good hot spot temp

First clutch....... How do/did you do?

[stickyalvinroll]

I did really good. But he's asking basic BP husbandry about a hot and ambient temp when he has 20+ BPs...

[PitOnTheProwl]

I did really good. But he's asking basic BP husbandry about a hot and ambient temp when he has 20+ BPs...

Then you would also know hatchlings right out of the egg require different husbandry than yearlings or adults.
You so missed the point of my first post.

Back on the topic at hand:
Jayare is your hatchling rack back or belly heat? I usually shoot for mid 80s in the tub.