Getting some rat snake eggs..

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Yup, you're right.. they were in the same tank. I bet mom couldn't wait to fly the coop.. pretty sad :(
The eggs look pretty good now; really un-denting a lot since the humidity they're in, is great. If you look at the image here of the eggs in the tackle-box thingie (first pic on this thread) you can see, it is a really nifty container; I added some water to the verm of course, but also some in the empty spaces in the container; with the lid closed, it's a darned nice humidity container!

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Jen,thats a good sign them undenting :cool: .Yea i see the extra spaces their,you might want to just add litte bits of water at a time though when its needed.Even though the spaces might have water in them i am not sure there is a gap between the lid for the humdity to transfer to the eggs.Some of the fishing containers are tight fitting so the contents do not move at all.Yes i love fishing also :P .Have you decided if your going to candle them at all or just wait and see? Not trying to push you into this at all ,i just dont want you to go thru all the incubation period and be heartbroken at the end :(.I am not saying this will happen,just thinking of the stress on you.

The humidity can transfer to the eggs; the lid does not cause the spaces to be cut-ff from each other. It actually had more compartments, but mark used a razor to cut out the partitions when he thought he needed its tackle box (that came with this piece) for tattoo supplies, but got another one.
I plan on candling them tonight or this weekend; been too darn busy! I will let you know how that goes though.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

The humidity can transfer to the eggs; the lid does not cause the spaces to be cut-ff from each other. It actually had more compartments, but mark used a razor to cut out the partitions when he thought he needed its tackle box (that came with this piece) for tattoo supplies, but got another one.
I plan on candling them tonight or this weekend; been too darn busy! I will let you know how that goes though.

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Thats great Jen :sweeet: .I will be watching for your update.

Do you know how big they are when they hatch? (just curious.) I would think they're pretty tiny, since the eggs are so small (but I am kinda comparing them to BP eggs so..)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Do you know how big they are when they hatch? (just curious.) I would think they're pretty tiny, since the eggs are so small (but I am kinda comparing them to BP eggs so..)

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Well you are in for a surprise then lol.Do you fish by chance? Some of my corn snake babies are almost the size of a small nightcrawler.The bigger the egg is the bigger the baby will be from my experiances.If you candle them in about a month(halfway thru incubation) you can see how they are tightly packed in their lol.If you view some of the posts from people that bought corn snakes from me this year there babies are around a month old and 3+ meals.I think 4thesnakelady and brainman1000 took some pics and posted them.I have a short memory on who else posted pics lol.Word of warning get some VERY tight fitting totes for the babies when they do hatch because they WILL try and escape on you:P .I still have not found my escapee from earlier last month:( .

Joe is right they are little escape artists, able to squeeze out of tiny gaps. Hatch weight should probably be between 4 and 8 grams depending on egg size, if that helps you realize how tiny they are out of the egg. I'm excited for you Jen!! How long since they were laid?

-Evan

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Originally Posted by Evan Jamison

Joe is right they are little escape artists, able to squeeze out of tiny gaps. Hatch weight should probably be between 4 and 8 grams depending on egg size, if that helps you realize how tiny they are out of the egg. I'm excited for you Jen!! How long since they were laid?

-Evan

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Evan,they were laid on the 12th i think as they are her freinds eggs.

Jen, I betcha they all hatch for ya! GL

Yes, they were laid on the 11th-12th. My friend was keeping the parents together in a tank, and they must have mated; apparently the female laid the eggs and then somehow escaped the tank.
The thingie they're in now, the tackle-box tray, is sealed tight; I opened it a few times daily for air exchange (this is OK, right?) And once hatching time comes around, I will make sure there's no water in the spaces of the tray I described above; wouldn't want any of them to drown!
I had baby garter snakes years ago; they were live-birth, but for size reasons, I know how small they were!! Thinner than a pencil by far, and with little bubble-like heads..
So would these babies just eat small mice? I am thinking that even the tiniest rat would be too big unless maybe just born?

Yeah they will take pinkie mice with no problems. I love watching them eat their first meal, it just looks so large for them, yet they suck in down in no time. They will be a little bigger than most garter snake neonates, but not a lot.

You don't really need to open the box for air exchange that often, once every few days should be plenty. I usually incubate in sterilite shoeboxes (just sitting on top of a rack in the snake room, the perfect incubator :D ) and rarely, if ever, do I open them. The loose fitting lids allow plenty of air exchange for the duration of the incubation period, yet keeps the moisture levels such that I don't need to add water to the medium. Ratsnake eggs are really hardy, so I don't think you'll have a problem. You could even incubate them at room temp (as low as 65 degrees F) and they will all hatch with no problems, it will just take longer Keep us updated on them in the coming weeks.

-Evan