help

a friend of mine bought a normal adult female ball pythong yesterday and when he took her home the wife FLIPPED, so he brings her to me last night. Today i asked him where he got her from and contacted the guy. He tells me that she is a imported wild caught gravid female. I have no clue what to do. I have always heard that wild caught BP's carry all kinds of diseases and parasites and dont eat and i have no clue on how to care for a clutch. Honestly i feel bad for her because when he went and bought her she was being kept in a huge bin type thing. My question is what to do now. How will i know when she is going to lay, and after she lays is she going to die? Will she eat rats? She is very beautiful, healthy, and docile. do i need a incubater or can she take care and hatch them herself? ANY help would be greatly appreciated

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Originally Posted by Midwestgottyline

a friend of mine bought a normal adult female ball pythong yesterday and when he took her home the wife FLIPPED, so he brings her to me last night. Today i asked him where he got her from and contacted the guy. He tells me that she is a imported wild caught gravid female. I have no clue what to do. I have always heard that wild caught BP's carry all kinds of diseases and parasites and dont eat and i have no clue on how to care for a clutch. Honestly i feel bad for her because when he went and bought her she was being kept in a huge bin type thing. My question is what to do now. How will i know when she is going to lay, and after she lays is she going to die? Will she eat rats? She is very beautiful, healthy, and docile. do i need a incubater or can she take care and hatch them herself? ANY help would be greatly appreciated

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Is she from Outback Reptiles?
They sell wild caught gravid females.

If she is from them, they treat their wild imports for parasites. Not disease though.
You would have to keep her in quarantine away from your personal snakes.

Huge bin?

You will know she is going to lay when she she seeks the hot side and stays in a perfect coil.
Take a look at this reference: http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html
When she lays, she will most likely survive. But if she becomes egg bound (egg gets stuck), she may need medical attention. If that happens, there is a chance she will die. But thats not very common.
Will she eat rats? Maybe, maybe not. That's difficult to say, but I suggest offering her a live small rat once she's settled. It can be difficult to get wild caught snakes to eat.

You don't necessarily need an incubator, but for the best chances of hatchling survival, its best to build one. You can build a very cheap and reliable one out of a drink cooler. Just make sure to get a reliable thermostat.
Here's a DIY reference:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...oler-incubator

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...bator-Tutorial

She can do maternal incubation, but that means you have to make sure her enclosure is the perfect environment. It is more difficult to control compared to an incubator.
Plus you want the mother to get feeding as soon as possible. She may not eat as much or at all when incubating herself. It can take a lot out of a female.

Maternal Incubation instructions:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...nal-Incubation

Since your not preapred at all, you can probably try to let her incubate eggs, or you can build an incubator if you can do it in time.

She should not die after laying. You will need to clean her cage well after you take her eggs and try to feed her. If you decide to let her incubete on her own, you need to try to feed her after they hatch, because she probably won't eat while sittong on the eggs :).

Good luck with her :).

This is going to sound hugely insensitive and I apologize for that. If you aren't prepared to incubate eggs and you aren't prepared to feed an entire clutch until you can sell the babies, don't incubate the eggs. Nothing says you HAVE to hatch the babies. If you don't want to just freeze and toss the eggs, but still don't want to incubate and feed a new clutch, see if you can find a breeder who has incubator space and let them have the eggs.

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

This is going to sound hugely insensitive and I apologize for that. If you aren't prepared to incubate eggs and you aren't prepared to feed an entire clutch until you can sell the babies, don't incubate the eggs. Nothing says you HAVE to hatch the babies. If you don't want to just freeze and toss the eggs, but still don't want to incubate and feed a new clutch, see if you can find a breeder who has incubator space and let them have the eggs.

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In dog breeding that is called culling. Culling is done to weed out the bad genes. I dont know how long i have but i plan on buying a incubater, along with anytjing else i need, and doing as much research as i can. I can and will learn. Im not going to discard all of the eggs. I have a lot of family and friends that will provide great homes

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Originally Posted by Midwestgottyline

In dog breeding that is called culling. Culling is done to weed out the bad genes. I dont know how long i have but i plan on buying a incubater, along with anytjing else i need, and doing as much research as i can. I can and will learn. Im not going to discard all of the eggs. I have a lot of family and friends that will provide great homes

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You'd be better off making one.

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Originally Posted by Midwestgottyline

In dog breeding that is called culling. Culling is done to weed out the bad genes. I dont know how long i have but i plan on buying a incubater, along with anytjing else i need, and doing as much research as i can. I can and will learn. Im not going to discard all of the eggs. I have a lot of family and friends that will provide great homes

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Yes, it's still called culling.

I was just throwing that option out there. I know a lot of corn snake breeders do this to eggs from a female that double clutches.

I agree with the idea of making you an incubator. In most cases, it's cheaper and runs better. Good luck!

Well. In some situations, its better to kill the eggs than hatch babies you can't take care of.

I'm not saying the OP can't properly care for, start up, and rehome the eggs/hatchlings, but there are people out there better off just culling the eggs in this situation.



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So your first order of business is to get an incubator. Check your online classifieds for cheap mini-fridges or wine coolers. If you can find a broken one even better. Get some flexwatt, a herpstat, some incubation medium, and a nice size tub that will fit in the incubator and will fit a good size clutch of eggs. There are quite a few how-to's on making incubators. It is really easy and much more cost effective than buying one.

While the eggs are incubating, try to get your hands on a hatchling rack (or make one!) so you have space for the babies when they hatch.

It is unexpected, but I think you can manage.

My advice is to make an incubator, maternal incubation is not easy. A cooler incubator is probably the easiest to make, and pretty inexpensive, especially if you already have one. If you look in the DIY section you will find all sorts of homemade incubators. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...oler-incubator

If you have an old fridge, or can find one, that works great too.