Maternally Incubating Clutch #2

I got some pics of the clutch tonight. I had to remove the mom temporarily because A) she has chosen an awkward way of wrapping the eggs and the bottom two were more exposed than I was comfortable with and B) I wanted a chance to candle each egg and see that all had veins and were doing well. She had knocked the thermostat probe out of her nest so I put that back in with the eggs while I was in there, too.


http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7734/img5555g.jpg

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http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8369/img5565sp.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/6274/img5554i.jpg

This is one thread I will definitely be following. :) :gj:

I'm going to check this often :)

We're 23 days in. This female really doesn't want me messing with her nest this year so I'm not candling her eggs as frequently as I have in the past. In lieu of candling pics or video, I'll just share some feeding pics.



http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9387/img5950y.jpg

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http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3856/img5955b.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2261/img5956o.jpg



Oh and I've checked on the thermometer every other day or so and it's been at a constant 87-88F.

It's cool that she will eat while she's on her clutch!

I wonder how many of them would eat while on their clutch if it was offerred? I've heard blah, blah, blah about how it's not good to let the girls incubate their own eggs, but it sounds like she's keeping those eggs well with minimal temp fluctuations.

As I'm going I'm going to eventually end up with more females than I want to raises clutches from in any given year. I think when the time comes I'm going to give at least some of mine a chance to incubate their eggs. Even if they do drop more weight than they would have and wind up skipping a breeding season, it's not the end of the world.

I'd say that most, if not all, females will eat while brooding eggs. They're opportunistic ambush predators, after all. It's not like they have to go hunting for all of their meals in the wild. Chances are very high that during the time they're tending their eggs, a few meals will stumble into their dens and fill their bellies. ;) In captivity, we increase the meal opportunities.

just checking in to see what kind of update you might have on this clutch.

That's awesome! I can't wait to see little heads pipping!

Not much new to report. I offered this mom a rat crawler yesterday but she wasn't interested. The eggs themselves still seem to be doing well. The bottom two she hasn't been coiling completely and have deflated a bit, but still have veins and movement. I got a pic of her and just one pic of candling the eggs (really didn't want to try her patience and get tagged).

http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/9625/img6259j.jpg

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/6486/img6260b.jpg

Wow! Awesome pix! Good luck!

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