What are your views of momma keeping eggs?

im possibly adopting a pregnant BP from a man who doesnt take care of them. I dont have an incubator but i do have a rack with plenty of room for her. Anybody had luck with eggs without using an incubator?

IMO it's more work to do maternal incubation. I haven't given it a shot yet, but may try it some season. If your rack maintains good temps, she coils her eggs nicely, and you provide adequate humidity, you'll likely have success. These snakes know what they're doing, so as long as they have what they need, maternal incubation is a fine choice.

You should find something by searching for maternal incubation here on this site...there have been a few threads about it...don't recall them having any issues...would be cool to do once...

awesome. i will look around :)

You might lose 1-2 eggs if she moves and rolls them over, that's the one problem I've heard people have had with Maternal incubation!

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Originally Posted by pamby13

im possibly adopting a pregnant BP from a man who doesnt take care of them. I dont have an incubator but i do have a rack with plenty of room for her. Anybody had luck with eggs without using an incubator?

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If he doesnt take care of them what is the possibility that she is gravid? They need proper temps, feeding, ect. in order to build follicles and then eggs.

I would say it's more work/skill to have the mom incubate them than use an incubator. You need an excellent thermostat either route you choose. If you have a friend that can incubate them, that would be the best option. Otherwise, it's not that hard to make your own incubator out of a drink cooler or an old refrigerator. There are lots of threads on maternal incubation if you want to try it, or making your own incubator.

Some members here allow maternal incubation and have no problems. The issues I have seen come up most often is this... Female will not eat while incubating. She has already been off food for weeks or months so allowing maternal incubation will most likely keep her off food for 2 additional months..

Scale rot.. Common along the inside of the body where she is tightly wrapped around the eggs. Humidity is high here and sometimes the female will get sores before the eggs hatch..

Loss of any eggs that are not receiving even temperatures and proper humidity..

Having an egg go bad and not seeing it inside the coils..

These are just the negative aspects but if the temperature inside the enclosure is correct and humidity is maintained, female snakes are usually very good at taking care of their own eggs.

It is just a personal choice where you need to weigh the pros and cons along with your own resources at the time.

Having Momma cook her own eggs will usually cause the Momma to take more time to get back up to weight. She may not breed next year.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Some members here allow maternal incubation and have no problems. The issues I have seen come up most often is this... Female will not eat while incubating. She has already been off food for weeks or months so allowing maternal incubation will most likely keep her off food for 2 additional months..

Scale rot.. Common along the inside of the body where she is tightly wrapped around the eggs. Humidity is high here and sometimes the female will get sores before the eggs hatch..

Loss of any eggs that are not receiving even temperatures and proper humidity..

Having an egg go bad and not seeing it inside the coils..

These are just the negative aspects but if the temperature inside the enclosure is correct and humidity is maintained, female snakes are usually very good at taking care of their own eggs.

It is just a personal choice where you need to weigh the pros and cons along with your own resources at the time.

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What temperatures and humidity do the eggs typically need to be kept at?