anyone use the greg maxwell techinque?

[Lucas339]

so the title says it all. in case you don't know of the technique, it is used for green tree pythons. you have a egg box with a couple of inches of water at the bottom with egg crate (or lighting grate) elevated over the water using pvc pipe. on top of the egg crate is a smaller cup. the eggs sit in the cup ontop of egg crate. it says that water forms on the sides of the cup and the sides of the egg box but b/c the eggs are on the egg crate, the water never touches the eggs. he also says that if the ratio of water is right, there is no condensation build up on top the the egg box itself. the thermostat probe is in the middle of the eggs.

has anyone tried this method for ball python eggs? i may try it next season pending other peoples results. its kinda like the substrate-less method but kicked up a notch.

[AjBalls]

One of my friends uses that method and he says he has never had a problem.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

sounds like the normal substrateless method that lots of people use... only you just put the eggs right on the egg difusor.

[juddb]

I was gonna say i think Mike C is going with the substrateless method! How are those females lookin by the way Mike

[Lucas339]

yeah but most people around her put perilite in the bottom. maxwell is just over water.

[SatanicIntention]

The reason people put perlite or some sort of substrate in the water is so when you need to take the tub out of the incubator or move it for any reason, the water doesn't slosh around. That's the only purpose the perlite serves.

I use 15qt tubs, put about an inch of perlite in the bottom, add enough tap water until it's sloshy but firm enough to hold the light diffusor up, and the eggs sit directly on that. Never had any problems.

I also don't put the thermostat probe in the egg box. As the eggs mature, they will start giving off heat, which will actually decrease the temperatures in the incubator, since the thermostat thinks it's too warm(when in fact it's not). Just suspend the thermostat probe in the middle of the incubator, have a fan blowing the air around(if the incubator is big enough), and just put your thermometer probes in the egg boxes.

[PythonWallace]

I use the substrateless method for ball pythons and leopard geckos, and I'd probably use it for any reptile I ever decide to breed. I got the idea from the chondro forums a while back.