Would love some questions on answered on what went wrong with my clutch.

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Originally Posted by Lost&Confused

That's a very good question. Yes, you read correctly. This year I had two clutches and none of the eggs made it. Most of them made it to full term but they never made it out of the egg.

The year before this last one I bred the same male to my female spider and she gave me 6 gorgeous eggs. 3/6 survived and are doing beyond wonderful.

Now, you've got me wondering if the male just isn't going to give me strong enough clutches. :(

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Sorry to add to your predicament!! If possible, this season I would try the male again, and do another clutch with a different male as a sort of control. If kept in the same conditions, you just might get some insight into your issues. Best of luck!

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Sorry to add to your predicament!! If possible, this season I would try the male again, and do another clutch with a different male as a sort of control. If kept in the same conditions, you just might get some insight into your issues. Best of luck!

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Nothing to be sorry about! I appreciate your input and it's a very valid point! I added a Lesser male to my collection about 6 months ago and I'm hoping he'll breed for me. Thank you for the well wishes!

87F seems a bit low for incubation. 88F-90F actual egg temp is what you will hear a lot of people incubating at.

I think the low incubation temps played a role to a point- not with the mold, but the poor outcome of the eggs in general.

Do not go by what you set your thermostat to. Check actual egg temps with a IR gun.

Lower incubation temp is doable, but the eggs will take longer to hatch.

Some folks incubate at 85 just fine. It just takes a few weeks longer to hatch than people who incubate at 88-90.

Same goes for the ones who maternally incubate at lower temps.


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another thing that you may want to look at. is the temps when mating your snakes. I'm not talking about dropping temps. but many breeders feel that a rack with too hot of a hot spot can cause sterilization of the present sperm in a male. maybe your temp didn't get hot enough for this, but close enough to cause problems.

I once read leave the eggs in you car glove box and in 60 days you`ll have babies. This is an extreme but a good example I think. I show eggs to my friends, relatives, etc a lot. Opening the tub every time, candling them, nothing happens. In nature they get colder days, hotter days, rain, etc.

First if the egg looks good but there`s no veins dont even put it in the incubator.

My opinion is this, and its just my opinion. You say the went bad almost full term, that`s when the babies require more air. Maybe opening just once a week wasnt enough. I dont like to use press n seal, and I do two air holes in the egg tub because I want air flowing. I dont think it has something to do with genetics or bad temp during follicle growing, issues would have shown earlier. Again that`s my opinion.

Good luck, dont give up, and relax, its easy.

this is the method i used this season - I had 10 clutches in the incubator and NOT a SINGLE egg/baby died out of more or less 60 eggs .. first of all I wash all the egg boxes and egg crates with regular liquid soap used for washing hands (it is very effective for killing bacteria).. i put vermiculite in the box - don't know how much but alot of it, over 2 inches .. i SOAK it with water .. it almost seems like a pool of water (too much humidity can't hurt the eggs) .. on top of vermiculite I put the plastic egg crate so that none of the eggs are touching the vermiculite .. i don't put any holes in the egg box .. I put press and seal over the top and seal it completely so that there is no air circulation at all .. the humidity is therefore pretty much 100%, condensation is CONSTANT from day 1 to the end .. I open the egg boxes once a week and wipe off the water drops from the press and seal and then put it back on
now for the incubator itself .. it is an old beer cooler .. it has a fan on the top AND bottom to circulate the air in the incubator 24/7 .. I measure temperatures OUTSIDE of the egg box, the temperature i use 24/7 is 87 - however this is temperature OUTSIDE of the egg box, which makes me believe that the temperature INSIDE the egg box is a little higher, however I have never measured it
I cut all my eggs anywhere from day 52 to day 58, depending on how excited I am about the particular clutch :) .. on day 59-61 I see first heads out of the eggs - it has been like this for all 10 clutches
this is MY method and so far the success rate from 60 eggs has been 100% - no dead eggs, no dead babies, no twisted umbilical cords etc.

regards, Andrej from ABpythons

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Lower incubation temp is doable, but the eggs will take longer to hatch.

Some folks incubate at 85 just fine. It just takes a few weeks longer to hatch than people who incubate at 88-90.

Same goes for the ones who maternally incubate at lower temps.


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Sticking with what had already been stated here maybe the lower temp in the incubator caused the eggs to need an extra week or two and cutting the at what would have been a normal cutting time frame actually caused the problem I don't know just a thought

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