First eggs of 2013!

Here is Sara eating last year.
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMG_2233.jpg

And here is Lulu eating this year. Darn girls eat fast, have to be on the ball to get a picture before it disappears!
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...pse0555a87.jpg

So exciting! I'm seriously thinking about maternal incubation...

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Originally Posted by Anya

So exciting! I'm seriously thinking about maternal incubation...

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Me too. I think I'm gonna try it next year just to experience it...

Thanks, I love it! Few things are better then opening a tub to this!
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...ps682f95aa.jpg
One of my favorite photos from last year. Sara and Shyanne : )

When you offer food while they are coiled around them do they ever leave the eggs? Have you ever had an egg roll out or maybe be damaged by the female constricting the rodent? I only ask cuz i wanna maternal incubation next season with atleast one of my girls.

Also you have had luck feeding after ovulation? How small of a meal do you offer? I always offer smaller rodents than my snakes are use to during the breeding season how ever iv never had a female eat after ovulation.

The girls usually partially uncoil to strike and eat but stay mostly on the eggs the entire time. So far they have never damaged an egg. Last year my het pied clutch had 1 egg that was not stuck to the other and it would occasionally get away from her but she always pulled it back in with the rest. It hatched just fine.

Between ovulation and laying my girls have not eaten yet, and generally the won't eat for the weeks leading up to ovulation either. However they still have gotten back up to weight before the next season. The first meal I offer is extra small, like a rat pup, to restart their system and if they have no problem with that then I tend to offer up to a small weaner rat. I am always right next to the tub, I do not want the mom or eggs hurt. However so far the moms are pretty fast and efficient.

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Originally Posted by DJF1990

When you offer food while they are coiled around them do they ever leave the eggs? Have you ever had an egg roll out or maybe be damaged by the female constricting the rodent? I only ask cuz i wanna maternal incubation next season with atleast one of my girls.

Also you have had luck feeding after ovulation? How small of a meal do you offer? I always offer smaller rodents than my snakes are use to during the breeding season how ever iv never had a female eat after ovulation.

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Our females maternally incubated 28 clutches last yr, and we are expecting at least 34 clutches this year.

Some of mine leave the eggs to eat and some stay partially coiled on the eggs when they eat. I have not had any issues with the eggs being disturbed or damaged by feeding. I just use rat pups, since I don't think a rat pup could damage the eggs, but maybe a bigger rat could (I feed live).

As far as getting females to eat after ovulation, I don't know that there is much you can do to encourage them...they either eat or they don't. We started offering after ovulation because I had one female that we didn't see ovulation with, and she ate up until the week she laid eggs (this was back in our first breeding season, about 6yrs ago). We didn't even think she was gravid until we found her on eggs. So now we offer small meals even after ovulation, and about 10-15% of our females take them.

Do you use egg chambers when maternally incubating the eggs for security for your females and to help increase the humidity and maintain temp? My big girls (2500+) seem to prefer no egg chamber no hide, just substrate and the water bowl. How ever my smaller females ( 1500-2000g) really seem to appreciate the added security of the egg chamber.

We don't use hides or egg chambers, but our racks are pretty enclosed. A few girls actually laid at the front of their tubs this year. For substrate, we use cypress mulch throughout the tubs, and then sphagnum moss around mom and eggs.

Have any of your females ever laid the clutch directly on the heat source its self? If so how would you go about relocating the female and clutch away from the heat source if you wanted to continue maternally incubation? Also have you ever noticed an increase in deformities or Premature births maternally incubating compared to artificial? Thanx for all the info as well everyone great thread!