Incubator question, use the fridge or the freezer?

Alright, I went down to check on her while I was converting the incubator and I'm positive I'll have eggs next week!

I picked her up to put some new newspaper in, although, now I'm thinking I should get some aspen in there since all the egg pictures I've seen have been with aspen.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/017-3.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/014-4.jpg

You can see her V shape starting! I didn't feel for eggs, because it makes me really nervous. She does feel REALLY full and heavy for not eating since Feb 9th.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/013-7.jpg

I definitely see some tail sucking there! Goodluck Steph!:cool:

Stephanie - when she starts to lay coiled with her tail inside her coils instead of outside - it's going to be SOON!

I used Hatchrite my first season - no light grate.

I use straight Perlite now - mixed to the same consistency as Hatchrite - no grate. No problems with either method!

In fact, watch your eggs with the Hatchrite - if they start dimpling noticeably in the first 30 days, add a teaspoon of water to two corners of the egg tub.

You want to be able to feel slight moisture on the pack of your hand when you touch the Hatchrite - you can feel it better on the back of your hand, I've found.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Stephanie - when she starts to lay coiled with her tail inside her coils instead of outside - it's going to be SOON!

I used Hatchrite my first season - no light grate.

I use straight Perlite now - mixed to the same consistency as Hatchrite - no grate. No problems with either method!

In fact, watch your eggs with the Hatchrite - if they start dimpling noticeably in the first 30 days, add a teaspoon of water to two corners of the egg tub.

You want to be able to feel slight moisture on the pack of your hand when you touch the Hatchrite - you can feel it better on the back of your hand, I've found.

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Thank Robin! I've been watching for her tail to be in the middle when she's coiled, but so far she's been keeping it on the outside. I can't wait to find her tail in the middle! :banana:

I use straight vermiculite(coarse grade from Uline.com) without the light grate and have never had a problem. In 3 seasons, I've only lost 2 eggs and they may not have been fertile(I didn't candle the eggs in that clutch---7 out of 9 eggs hatched/2 bad). My females also lay fine on news paper. I do have plans to put some or most of my snakes back on aspen though. I finally found the fine shredded aspen at a pet store. Petsmart's aspen has been of a low quality, etc for a couple of years. Their aspen hasn't been the fine shredded stuff that I used to get there.
Best of luck with your clutch!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jason Bowden

I use straight vermiculite(coarse grade from Uline.com) without the light grate and have never had a problem. In 3 seasons, I've only lost 2 eggs and they may not have been fertile(I didn't candle the eggs in that clutch---7 out of 9 eggs hatched/2 bad). My females also lay fine on news paper. I do have plans to put some or most of my snakes back on aspen though. I finally found the fine shredded aspen at a pet store. Petsmart's aspen has been of a low quality, etc for a couple of years. Their aspen hasn't been the fine shredded stuff that I used to get there.
Best of luck with your clutch!

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Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if our pet stores have the fine stuff either. I know I've seen the larger pieces in one of them. Maybe I'll just try newspaper and see what happens.

Stephanie - all mine last year were laid on paper, my first clutch this season was laid on paper as well!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Stephanie - all mine last year were laid on paper, my first clutch this season was laid on paper as well!

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Oh awesome! I won't bother with aspen then! Thanks again Robin!