Unhealthy Clutch?

Hey guys,
Just wondering what you think of this clutch

My friend has very little experience in keeping a Ball Python, she bought this female about 6-8 weeks ago off of someone who told her that they tried to breed her, but they never witnessed a lock, and the female was not showing any signs of being gravid. Looks like she locked! lol

My friend has been doing pretty much everything I have told her to do, she sends me pictures every once in a while as well as temp/humid readings to make sure everything is fine.

Imo it doesn't look like its doing all that great.
I haven't had the chance to shine a light on the eggs to see if there are veins, but I will be able to provide pictures of them tonight hopefully, If I can get over there.
She is using a Reptibator, the Sensor for both the Humidity and Temperature are on top of the Reptibator which provides an inaccurate reading since the heating element is right up there with it.
However the Humidity reading on the reptibator is at 65%, which I think is sufficient.
Also, the Temp. reading for the reptibator is 90 Degree's, I added another thermostat with a prode and I put the probe right by the egg's and that only reads a steady 87.6
I figure that should also be sufficient.

Here is a picture before I removed the bad egg on top, the egg was bad when it was first discovered.

http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/...0420-00419.jpg

Here is a picture after I removed the bad egg

http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/...0422-00420.jpg

Like I said, Hopefully I can provide some pictures of the eggs with a light to them.

Also I should mention that the clutch is only about 2-3 weeks old

Looks like a good clutch. I am buying the reptibator soon and would like to know some pros and cons. What should I know?


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They are dehydrated...65% humidity is not sufficient...You need 100%.

How can I increase the humidity?
My friend is spraying the vermiculite for approx. 30 seconds, 2 times a day, as well as the sides of the tub that the eggs lay in, and one spray directly on the eggs..

Also keep in mind that the humidity is not 100% accurate, as the sensor is on top of the incubator, pretty close to the heating elements that the incubator uses to heat up the eggs...
I am not sure how much more humid the incubator actually is...

What should you know about a reptibator?
I wouldn't buy one from a pet store, or reptile store, at least not in Canada
I bought mine off Kijiji for $120, I was lucky since they are much more expensive over here

Anyways, If I was you I would invent in a thermostat with a probe to drop into where the eggs are, and ignore the temperature that reads from the incubator itself. This is because the sensor is positioned close to the heating elements, so the temperature by the eggs will actually be 3-4 Degree's cooler than the incubator reads.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuidsBalls

How can I increase the humidity?
My friend is spraying the vermiculite for approx. 30 seconds, 2 times a day, as well as the sides of the tub that the eggs lay in, and one spray directly on the eggs..

Also keep in mind that the humidity is not 100% accurate, as the sensor is on top of the incubator, pretty close to the heating elements that the incubator uses to heat up the eggs...
I am not sure how much more humid the incubator actually is...

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It doesn't matter what the hygrometer is reading for humidity. You can tell the humidity is too low because the eggs are collapsing inward. In addition, you should be measuring the humidity INSIDE the egg tub, not just in the incubator in general. You should not have to spray the inside of the tubs daily, or even weekly. The way I see it, you have two options: 1) Add saran wrap or press 'n seal to the top of the tub to hold humidity in better (under the lid). This still may not be sufficient if the substrate isn't wet enough. 2) Get some light diffuser (plastic grate sold at Home Depot, etc.) and set it on top of the substrate. Add lots of water to the substrate, but do not add so much that it can touch the underside of the eggs. Then, place the eggs on top of the diffuser. Add press 'n seal to the top if your humidity does not skyrocket after doing this.

You could remix the vermiculite. 1:1 ratio with water,so that when you squeeze it ,it clumps together but no water actually drips out of it.
Or you could add some dampened sphangum moss around the eggs. These are just suggestions if you don't have the materials to just do substrateless.
also you don't really want to spray water directly on the eggs, getting them directly wet can kill them.

There is a water resevoir in the bottom of the reptibator. Fill that up with water, or moisted the sponge material you set the eggs on. Either one will increase the humidity.

Pros of the reptibator-lightweight, easy to find ready to use.

cons- sometimes the temps and humidty gauge is a little off not a huge deal to me though, can only fit 2 or so bp clutches in it but several geckos or whaterver.

If I put the lid on top of the container, will that do the trick? insted of putting saran wrap on it?

Do the eggs not need air?
I'm assuming not

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuidsBalls

If I put the lid on top of the container, will that do the trick? insted of putting saran wrap on it?

Do the eggs not need air?
I'm assuming not

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You should always have the lid on the egg tub. This provides a more stable environment, and helps hold in the humidity. The conditions you are shooting for should be inside the tub, not the incubator as a whole. Even with saran wrap, the tub wouldn't be air tight.

Only open the tub to let air in once a week or so. lol this all make so much more sense to why they are so dehydrated. Lay back on the misting now that the lid will be on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

They are dehydrated...65% humidity is not sufficient...You need 100%.

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That :gj:

Re-mix the vermiculite or do a subtraless incubation with the substrate at the bottom and eggs on a egg crate.

The egg box must have a lid to keep humidity in if it does not water evaporates humidity drops.

There is no reason to open your egg box, mine is not sealed however it does not get open until the very last week of incubation.

Woo!
Okay, NOW I'm headed in the right direction

If I put the lid on etc. Will the eggs come back up? or stay deflated?

The eggs should plump back up in day or two after you nail down the correct humidity.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2

how far along are the eggs?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuidsBalls

Woo!
Okay, NOW I'm headed in the right direction

If I put the lid on etc. Will the eggs come back up? or stay deflated?

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Since they are a few weeks old, they most likely will not plump all the way back up. They can still survive to term, though, if you fix it now.

what happens if water condenses on top of the lid? will it hurt the eggs? also, if he/she uses the water reservoir in the reptibator, then doesnt he/she need holes in the tub? also, will the hydrofarm: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846
do the job for measuring temps in the tub? where would you plug in the ports?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by QuidsBalls

How can I increase the humidity?
My friend is spraying the vermiculite for approx. 30 seconds, 2 times a day, as well as the sides of the tub that the eggs lay in, and one spray directly on the eggs..

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You shouldn't need to spray the vermiculite at all, if you do that means the water is evaporating which means you don't have a tight seal on the egg box. Get some press and seal glad plastic wrap and place a sheet of it over the top of the egg box. This should give you a tight seal and keep in the humidity that you want. Air exchange, especially early in the incubation cycle is not that necessary.

Hey, first time using tapatalk!
Anyways
I went out and got a 2' by 4' light diffuser, I'll cut it down to size, remix the vermiculite, put down the cut diffuser, lay the eggs on top of it, seal the container and that will bring up the humidity :)
The eggs are approx 17 days old <.<

Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk

Where do you get a light diffuser? Any online options?


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I picked mine up from Home Depot for around $12
I'll be able to use it many, many times as it is 2' by 4' and I only used a small portion of it to put into my friends container

I changed the set-up a few days ago, the eggs still haven't come back up, but there are veins in all the eggs, so we will see what happens

Are there any changes to the veins before the egg hatches?
My friend is not 100% sure when the eggs were laid, so I cannot make an educated guess of when to pip the eggs without being 0-5 days off, which I suppose isn't a large margin :rolleyes:
Should I let the little guys break through themselves? or should I pip them a bit, 60 days after the clutch was discovered?

I had the same exprience w/ a non Bp clutch a few years back. We had to let mom incubate the eggs since we didnt expected to have the clutch. At the last week of the incubation, we noticed that the eggs are all severely collapsed. We decided to remove the eggs thinking that they are all bad. I cut one of the egg, and guess what, baby burm are alive inside the severely collapsed egg. It was around 20 eggs, and if I remember it right, around 15 of 'em are all alive. The others were dried up due t very low humidity.