dummy guide to egg tub substrate

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Originally Posted by simplechamp

What do you guys think about that Hatch-Rite substrate? Is it the same stuff you can make yourself with vermiculite/perlite, or are there other ingredients that warrant the extra cost?

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I've only used it once, because it was a free bag when it first came out. I had a 100% hatch rate and all I had to do was pour it in the tub and set it up. Very easy. But I don't think I'll be paying $14 for a bag, or whatever it is. Straight vermiculite has worked ok for me. I'm trying lone perlite this year with a clutch. As well as mixes.

I bought a bag of Calcined clay. Its clay pots crushed up and fired at 1800 degrees i think but not 100% sure on the refiring temps.
Anyways its the best hatching substrate ive ever used. Ive used it for geckos and snakes and i wont use anything else.
I found it online at a bonzi tree store. Got a 5 pound bag for a few bucks.
Its light tan when dry and dark brown when wet. So its easy to learn the moisture content just playing around with it.

is there a way to use the perlite w/o the egg crate stuff? I cant seem to find any around here

did you look in the hardware store in the lighting section? Flouresent light diffusor (sp) should be in every harware store....


Mike

Home Depot or any hardware store should have it. Might take a bit for an employee to understand what you were looking for but if there is a store that sells supplies for finishing a basement or building a building then chances are good they have the stuff. :)

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Originally Posted by filly77

is there a way to use the perlite w/o the egg crate stuff? I cant seem to find any around here

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Ahh i was looking in walmart & kmart lol i'll check home depot! thanks you two!!

I hatch all my snakes and lizards on vermiculite. Last year we hade about 130 animals hatch at around 94% hatch rate.

I add and mix water slowly to vermiculite checking every batch by squeezing wet vermiculite until no water drips or runs out but it still clumps easily. Like Kat said it is always better to be drier than wetter.

I have been using press n seal but eventually I add some blue tape around the edges because after opening and closing that stuff a few times it dosent work as well.

Best of luck with your breedings Mike, I have a clutch:snake: due to hatch on Thanksgiving:banana:

This is what we did last year Mike. We only did 3 clutches (a total of 18 eggs) but had a 100% hatch rate so it must have been okay. :)

We used 6 qt sterlite tubs. I mixed vermiculite and perlite together using the following formula - 2 parts vermiculite to 1 part perlite by volume. Once it was well mixed together I added incubator temp water to it - if you don't have room in the bator for a water jug just use warmish tap water. I used this link http://www.ballpython.com/page.php?topic=incubation but found for me that I didn't need quite the 50/50 by weight of water to achieve the desired "feel" to my incubation medium. You have to mix and mix and mix some more to get that water right the way through your dry mixture. If you think you've mixed enough...mix more LOL. You want that liquid as evenly distributed as you can get it.

Basically it should clump in your fist when you squeeze it but then immediately collapse when you poke the squeezed mass with your finger (if that makes any sense). Experiment and you'll get it right. We filled each tub about halfway full of the incubation medium.

We placed the eggs in the tub being careful to neither roll them or seperate them. I made a bit of a depression in the substrate and then once the eggs were placed, just shoved some of the substrate around but not covering the eggs completely. Then I put on the Press N Seal then the lid. Then a sticker on the lid with relevant info (sire & dam, date laid, number of eggs, date of 30 days, date of 45 days, date of 53 days).

We would open the tubs, lift an edge of the Press N Seal and do a quick check on the eggs and air exchange once weekly until day 45. At day 45 we removed the Press N Seal, put a few vent holes in the lid of the egg box and started opening the boxes once daily just for a quick moment. We cut on day 53 and at that point very lightly misted the cut eggs twice daily until all hatchlings left their eggs.

Hope this helps. :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Then a sticker on the lid with relevant info (sire & dam, date laid, number of eggs, date of 30 days, date of 45 days, date of 53 days).

We would open the tubs, lift an edge of the Press N Seal and do a quick check on the eggs and air exchange once weekly until day 45. At day 45 we removed the Press N Seal, put a few vent holes in the lid of the egg box and started opening the boxes once daily just for a quick moment. We cut on day 53 and at that point very lightly misted the cut eggs twice daily until all hatchlings left their eggs.

Hope this helps. :)

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What did you label day 30 for? And do the vent holes at day 45 help with the condensation?