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

As my user name suggests.. I am incredibly lost and confused and more than a little hurt. I would really like some answers as to what could have happened to my eggs last year. Out of the 9 eggs...None of them hatched. Not one a single one. This will be my 3rd year breeding my ball pythons and while the first year was a little rocky...this last year was completely heart breaking.

I would like to ask all you fine folks what I did wrong? What could I be doing better and so on and so forth because I don't want this happening again if I can help it. I realize that things sometimes just go wrong without explanation but I'm hoping that I can grow from this experience.

Last year I was able to successfully breed my female spider (1800g) to my male Pastel (1500g) and my spider gave me 6 beautiful eggs. I also successfully bred the same Pastel Male to my Pastel Female (1500g) and she gave me 2 beautiful eggs, one not so beautiful egg (misshapen and small) and one very obvious slug. I candled them all and the viable ones all had large strong veins.

I already had their incubator set up to my desired temp of 87 degrees. I had their boxes set up as well. 6qt plastic shoe tub filled with moist perlite. I placed plastic egg crate on top of the perlite so the eggs were barely touching it and I covered it with plastic wrap to seal the moisture in. No turning of the eggs or anything. I made sure they were in the exact same position as I found them.

My incubator is made out of an old wine mini fridge with a glass front so I can see inside without continuously opening the door. We gutted it and put in parts of an old incubator inside. I used two probes on the top and bottom of the incubator to make sure that the temps were consistent at 87 degrees. I also had a small computer fan blowing to circulate the heat.

I placed them in the incubator and waited. I'd check on them daily through the window to make sure the temps held and from what I could tell...they were holding steady. I checked to make sure they weren't rotting or drying out. Not enough condensation built up to drip on them either. Every week I'd lift up the seal and press to let fresh air in. Everything was fine until day 25. One of the eggs was turning a sickly green colors. I took them out of the incubator into a temperature controlled room and candled them all again. All of the veins were still strong except for the one that was turning sour. No veins showed at all. Unfortunately it was attached to 3 other eggs and wouldn't budge. For fear of tearing a perfectly good egg I left it there for 10 more days until it deteriorated so much that I could finally pluck it off. During that waiting period two other eggs died that weren't attached to the rotting egg. They weren't attached to any other egg so I removed them too. I put them all back, waited and waited with no other signs of trouble. I took off the seal and wrap at day 52.

Day 58 came and I panicked and decided cut the eggs. They all looked fully formed but two of them weren't moving at all. The other four would twitch or show some signs of life. No veins were knicked. I was getting more and more worried.

After that day all hell broke loose. Not one of them was absorbing their yolk. Not one of them was coming out of their egg. I waited until day 65 and pulled the box out to check the eggs again. The two that weren't moving were definitely dead and another two others had joined them. All of them still had yolk sacks attached. Some of them were wrapped in their cords. That left me two eggs that still looked like they could make it. Day 68 and another one of the babies had wrapped itself up in its cord. Day 75 and the only egg left was the misshapen one. He'd tried to make it till the end and even partially escaped... but his yolk was still attached and stuck in the egg. And you guessed it...he didn't make it either.

If you read this till the end I thank you. It was very long and dull I'm sure but I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

Questions if I may... Would moving the eggs from their incubator to a temp controlled room be enough of a drop in temp to kill them? Is moving the box at all ill advised even to just check on them? They didn't role at all.

What are some reasons that a baby ball python would be fully formed and not come out of his egg? What are some reasons that they wouldn't absorb their yolk?

Also, I hear a lot of people adjust their temperatures for their breeding ball pythons before breeding season to simulate the winter season in Africa? Which gets their Ball Pythons in the mood and to know that breeding season is on the way. Which helps in aiding a female to produce follicles?

If I didn't do that last year could that be one of the reasons none of the babies were strong enough to make it?

Thank you so much for your time. I greatly appreciate it.

1) Set your incubator to 89, measured in your egg tub.
2) Put 2-3 inches of Hatchrite in your egg box.
3) Put in eggs.
4) Clear condensation off top of egg box lid once per week.
5) Wait 56 days.
6) Take pictures of your new baby snakes.

It's hard to guess at what happened with your previous clutches but that's my formula and it seems to work well for me...

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Originally Posted by sho220

1) Set your incubator to 89, measured in your egg tub.
2) Put 2-3 inches of Hatchrite in your egg box.
3) Put in eggs.
4) Clear condensation off top of egg box lid once per week.
5) Wait 56 days.
6) Take pictures of your new baby snakes.

It's hard to guess at what happened with your previous clutches but that's my formula and it seems to work well for me...

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Ha! You make it sound so simple. Which it mostly likely is and I'm just over thinking it to death. Thank you for answering.

Out of curiosity. When an egg rots on you do you bother to take it out? Does it have an ill effects on your other eggs?

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Originally Posted by Lost&Confused

Ha! You make it sound so simple. Which it mostly likely is and I'm just over thinking it to death. Thank you for answering.

Out of curiosity. When an egg rots on you do you bother to take it out? Does it have an ill effects on your other eggs?

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It can start spreading mold onto other eggs. Best to take them out.

And it is very simple. People just make it difficult. :)

It seems like step 5 is the most difficult in the list.

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Originally Posted by Drake Moonslayer

It seems like step 5 is the most difficult in the list.

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Ding! Ding! Ding! And we have a winner!!! :D

moving eggs to a room won't kill your eggs. I do it all the time. as long as they wasn't getting wet and wasn't collapsing so much as it hurt the eggs. even running at a little lower of a temp. they should of hatched. next time let one pip before cutting. it could very well been a weak clutch and no matter who incubated them, they wasn't going to make it. it happens. don

Maybe there are some underlying issues with the pastel male? If I read correctly, it was 2 clutches that didn't make it... Have you gotten a successful clutch from him before?

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Maybe there are some underlying issues with the pastel male? If I read correctly, it was 2 clutches that didn't make it... Have you gotten a successful clutch from him before?

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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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Originally Posted by don15681

moving eggs to a room won't kill your eggs. I do it all the time. as long as they wasn't getting wet and wasn't collapsing so much as it hurt the eggs. even running at a little lower of a temp. they should of hatched. next time let one pip before cutting. it could very well been a weak clutch and no matter who incubated them, they wasn't going to make it. it happens. don

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Thank you for answering. You may be right. I may be trying to look for complicated answers to an easy question. You're absolutely right. They may have just been a weak clutch that didn't have a chance to survive. Someone else suggested it might even be my male that's causing the issue.

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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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