Letting nature take it's course...

Hey,
I'm seeing all these threads about incubators. I'm just throwing this out there but does anyone ever just let nature take it's course and let the female parent them? Just let her sit on her eggs instead of snatching them away and putting them in an incubator?

I haven't noticed much talk about it here however on another forum I read that deals with Morelia there are people that maternally incubate and those that do it artificially. There are pros and cons with each type. I know there are others here that can speak to their preferences. The main concern is that it takes a lot out of the female to incubate the eggs after spending so much on creating them.

If one of my females is in great shape after she lays, I might try maternally incubating a clutch sometime. If I'm hoping for some special morphs, I would do it artifically for the best results.

deb

We have had some members sucessfully use maternal incubation, but you still have to be just as vigilant watching temps in the enclousure and providing proper humidity as you do with an incubator.


This can be a heated topic, as many members prefer to get their females eating again as quickly as possible.

For myself, maternal incubation isn't something that I'm considering.

One reason is that if you allow the female to incubate she will not eat till they hatch and the eggs and hatchlings are removed. With the stress on the female from laying and all not eating can be worse on them.

Seeing as it is part of the snake's instinct and the way nature intended, would it not be the better way?

I know one could argue the higher death rate in nature, but as a counter, there are no predators, pests or anything but your snake in the tub (or at least there shouldn't be?).

For a snake in captivity who was more than likely bred with the intent of producing babies, why risk losing the eggs and having a mother who is run down and possibly dehydrated for 2 months because she is intent on watching her eggs? There may be no danger involved as far as predators go with the hatch rate is much higher in incubators. It is also much easier to control temps and humidity in an incubator than in an enclosure.