natural inubator???

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Just a few curious questions.

First let me say that I am not breeding yet. Still at least 6 months away from trying to breed.

I believe just about everyone uses incubators. My main question is why do you use an incubator?

I can only assume that if you just let nature take its course, and keep the temps / humidity spot on, the mommy and the eggs will all take care of themselves.

I am sure there are solid reasons for using incubators over mother nature, I just don't know what they are. Please fill me in!


thanks for your replies!

Mike

[dr del]

Hi,

I think the main one is that the mother might not eat while she is incubating but usually will once the eggs are removed and she and the enclosure have been washed down to remove the egg scent.

At least that is what I have been told.


dr del

[frankykeno]

After seeing how scrawny my previously robust females looked after they dropped their eggs, I couldn't imagine leaving them for another 60 days without food as they maternally incubated. I know in nature they must go through this and come out fine but for me, they aren't wild and I want the very best for them. For us, that means the eggs go into the controlled environment of an incubator, momma snakes gets a bath and a clean tub and goes back to eating in short order. One of our females that had her clutch hatch recently is already back to almost 1,800 grams (not her pre-lay weight quite yet) and looking stunningly healthy.

[starmom]

Don't you also need to keep the eggs at a higher humidity than the momma?

[Sputnik]

There is no way I could meet the humidity needs here in Colorado....

[allmote]

Rodents also come to the birth smell in the wild looking for something easy to eat. Lots of rodents in africa and they are atracted to about anything smelly. So its more like a scented trap ,rodent walks in little crany looking for easy meal BOOM! Tough actin tanactin.

First post back to trolling.

[rabernet]

Just a few curious questions.

First let me say that I am not breeding yet. Still at least 6 months away from trying to breed.

I believe just about everyone uses incubators. My main question is why do you use an incubator?

I can only assume that if you just let nature take its course, and keep the temps / humidity spot on, the mommy and the eggs will all take care of themselves.

I am sure there are solid reasons for using incubators over mother nature, I just don't know what they are. Please fill me in!


thanks for your replies!

Mike

Mike,

When you see mom after she lays her eggs - it's a no brainer (at least for me).

Additionally, I'm not convinced that I could keep temps and humidity bang on during incubation, whereas in an incubator - the temps fluctuate less than a fraction of a degree.

For me personally - I want mom eating right away - she looks so emaciated after laying. I would prefer that she not go another 60 days without eating.

[Fearless]

There is no way I could meet the humidity needs here in Colorado....

I will second that one, it takes filling that stupid humidifier everyday to make sure i get perfect sheds everytime!

[Evan Jamison]

There are many pros and few cons to artificial incubation, which is why most breeders choose to pull the eggs from mom. Other than observing a natural behavior, there is no real reason to allow mom to incubate.

Maternal incubation in captivity isn't really that tough however. Female pythons can control the heat and humidity of the clutch quite well, and a tightly coiled mom on eggs can hold in heat and humidity very well. As long as she is given good conditions to incubate (mid 80s ambient temp with a warm side to get up to 89ish, 70-80% humidity throughout) she can easily do what she is naturally designed to do.

-Evan

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Providing proper temps and humidity in an incubator is very easy, however providing proper temps and humidity in captivity to ensure proper incubation will be a harder.

Also after this I am not sure you want your female to fast another additional 60 days.



Maternal incubation can work if you have the right conditions but personally when I have a female fasting for 150 days I don’t see the need to prolong her fast for another 60 days if I don’t have to.