Bad season, or did I screw something up?

I realize bad seasons happen, but geez this is only my second year breeding. Last year I kind of chalked it up to my inexperience, since I only got one clutch. So this year I was a lot more diligent about the pairings and tracking and such. Well, all my girls have either layed really late or not at all, and of those clutches I've gotten so far, more than half have been mostly slugs, with only a single or a couple good eggs. Only 2 clutches out of I think 7 have been good, 5 good with 2 slugs and 9 good with 2 slugs. Now here's where it gets bad and I think I may have been the one who screwed thing up. I had issues last year with keeping humidity, so I went to sealed containers this year. I was venting them at least once a week, if not a little more, and the eggs looked great. Now I'm in the middle of moving, had a clutch hatch during the move, and forgot to vent the container when I noticed heads poking out. Stupid mistake on my part, and it cost me 2 or 3 hatchlings. I have also apparently lost a bunch that died just prior to hatching in different clutches. Looked like some may have had the umbilicus wrapped around them, but a lot never even pipped. The clutch of 9 had one die in the egg a few days before it was due, and lost 4 more that never pipped, even though I cut the remainder of the clutch as soon as the first two pipped. There are two left that seemed to be behind and are still alive, but I have no idea if they'll make it now. Only explanation I can come up with is a lack of sufficient oxygen towards the end. Or did I make some other obvious error?

Sorry for your losses DB. It is always a work in progress to continue and go forward after something like this. But yeah, I would just say bad year and start over. There is always next season and the thing is to stay positive and keep moving forward. Your results can only improve going forward. Peace. :)

Dude that really sucks.
Just my thought would be to work on sealing the bator up better so you dont have to seal the tubs.
We all learn one season at a time.
I am an OCD with paper and a friend of mine doesnt track anything. He opens a tub and is all "oh I got eggs".....

Sorry to hear about your loss, have you considered this incubator design? It might solve your fresh air problem. I have an egg this year that smells bad but candles good. I worry about it, I think I'll start burping it more frequently.

This is the first time with this incubator. Converted commercial cooler, but yes I am going to do something different with the setup next year. It doesn't need much sealing, more like better heat setup and seal off the last couple holes from the refrigeration parts. I think I'll also go back to less sealed containers. Was more work last year but perfect hatch rate. Definitely not giving up, but it has been rough. So thanks for the encouragement.

How are you heating it?

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

This is the first time with this incubator. Converted commercial cooler, but yes I am going to do something different with the setup next year. It doesn't need much sealing, more like better heat setup and seal off the last couple holes from the refrigeration parts. I think I'll also go back to less sealed containers. Was more work last year but perfect hatch rate. Definitely not giving up, but it has been rough. So thanks for the encouragement.

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Think of the incubator as a heat source only. The humidity it holds and heat mean absolutely nothing other then getting to the correct temperature. What matters are the tubs and the eggs. Sealed tubs are the only way period. What did you use for incubating? Vermiculite, perlite, diffuser, etc....? What were your temps and were they consistent or did they fluctuate? Did you take temps of the eggs? Incubator temp and egg temps are different.

What temps did you keep your snakes at during the breeding season?

Currently using the heating element from the modified hovabator I used for last year's clutch, with a herpstat1 basic for control. Temps inside were stable between 89.5-90°. Computer fan for air circulation to keep the temps even top to bottom. And no I didnt take separate egg temps this year, mostly because they were always within a half degree inside the egg tubs last year. I did have to move the whole setup about ten miles. The egg tubs were packed into a foam cooler, it was in the 80s that day, and they were only out of the incubator for less than 2 hours. And yes they were kept level the whole time. The eggs tubs were I believe Rubbermaid 2qt storage containers ( think Tupperware style, not throw away) with hatchrite for the media. Even though they never saw any temps lower than 85 during the move, which I got from the thermometer I had in the transport cooler with them, I'm staring to suspect that the move didn't help any, since the first clutch to hatch would have been fine were it not for my mistake, and the trouble has been with the rest of the clutches that got moved.
As for my snakes, they are in assorted racks, 90° hotspots and 80° cool end. Room is pretty much kept at 50% humidity, and I haven't tried doing any cooling period yet.

I have 5 or 6 feet of 12 inch flex a watt in mine with a VE200

Just a thought, I reread your first post, and it seems you still have the Press & Seal on at time of birth? Forgive me if I misread that. Maybe my technique is wrong but I remove the Press & Seal about a week before I expect them to pip. I keep the humidity in the incubator at 70%+ and the egg boxes, of course, have more due to water underneath the egg crate. I use a substrateless method.

I am curious how warm do you keep you BP both males and females?

Oops, maybe no Press & Seal but a tight sealed lid?

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I am curious how warm do you keep you BP both males and females?

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Yup exactly that was why I was wondering about the temps the snakes were kept at.

Sealed containers, no wrap required. All my bps are maintained at 90° hotspot with 80° cool end.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

Sealed containers, no wrap required. All my bps are maintained at 90° hotspot with 80° cool end.

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My hotspot stays around 88 year round 90 is fine. My room temp is 75-77 in the summer and 72-75 in the winter (which is my breeding season). So those temps are basically my cool side temps. I kept hearing 80 is fine there is no problem breeding them with that high of a cool side temp from individuals. Even though many people I know cool things down. So I tried it after years of cooling with great results. With the higher temps my results were so bad I wanted to cry. Between slugs, infertiles and eggs that died in the incubator I bet half of what was layed got thrown out. Not to mention the lower then usual amount of girls that laid. I rarely have eggs die in the incubator. Unless they went in with no veins and I was praying lol. Many say no need to cool things down. They are right balls will breed and lay without cooling it down. However the amount of bad eggs probably go up. It went way way up for me. I have had 1 slug this year, zero infertiles, and well over 100 healthy eggs so far. 3 males that were used were 2014 virgins and there were 6 virgin girls that laid so far this year. One of the virgin girls gave me the slug. People keep telling me those temps will give them RI. Yet I have not ever had one in my collection. In my old house the room temp use to get down in the upper 60s. I would have girls in the front of the tub even at those temps trying to cool down. They would be cold to the touch. We don't give these critters the credit they deserve. They know how to regulate their temps. They don't just crawl into a cold spot and die. They have a warm spot and a cold spot to figure out themselves what they need. Everyone does things different. Everyone needs to figure out their own method. Just sharing my experience and how I do it.

I have wanted to try lowering the cool end temps at least but haven't really had the chance yet. The room they were in was so small that it was hitting the mid to upper 70s without any other heat, even in the winter, which was giving me the 80° cool end temps. It may be easier now in the new snake room, it's a bit bigger, but better insulated too, so I'll kind of be starting over.

Very interesting... I think you have a problem apart from incubation if you only had 2 of 7 total clutches not slug-out. I would strongly recommend you check out your setup and make sure everything is 100% fine. I have had years where my females only gave me 3 clutches and I've had years where I've had 10+ clutches and I've never had a clutch go bad. Does this mean that it's impossible for that to happen? No. It happens and that's life. But to have more than 50% of your females lays slugs, something has to be off. I would double and triple check the temps of every square inch of every single enclosure with a couple temp-reading devices just to see if your having heat spikes of some sort. You could, very well, have a heat spike in the males tub causing his sperm to go bad.

Now once that issue is taken care of, I would make sure your incubation method is 100% on point before trying to incubate again. Artificial incubation (which is what the majority of us do (pulling eggs from mom)) is VERY simple! Many people often over-complicate it and make it worse than it should be. My first year breeding, I had 3 clutches. My incubator was a Coleman 120qt cooler bought at Walmart. I laid a strip of heat tape on the bottom and added a small computer fan to it. Placed my 3 egg tubs and 60 days later had healthy babies. Not a single egg went bad. The following year I upgraded to a large, single door, Coke fridge with glass front and applied the same concept. Heat tape on the back, small fan for air movement and viola 100% hatch rate. This year I'm using a Hotbox incubator because it looks nice and I wasn't able to build one, but as pretty as it is, it works the same as my previous ones.

Incubating is very simple. All you need is a box of some sort (cooler, fridge, home-built box) that will hold heat well, a heating element (heat pad, heat tape, heat cable), a small fan to move air & a GOOD thermostat to make sure temps are spot on and you will be successful. Egg tubs are also very simple. Everyone I know, myself included, uses Container Store shoe bins (any tub the closes good will work just as well) for eggs tubs. I have always used vermiculite and never had a problem. I put just as much water as I do vermiculite on a weight basis in each tub. So if I use 300 grams of vermiculite I mix in 300 grams of water. Then I bury the eggs a bit in the mix and put in the 'bator. No press & seal, no opening the tubs every 2 days for air, nothing. I literally leave them there until they hatch and are ready to put in the rack.

With all this being said, this is NOT the only way of doing things, this is NOT the only right way of doing things. This to me is the most simple way to do it and will help you learn some basics in hatching eggs. If you want to try other methods, such as, substrateless, by all means go ahead. Just do your research so you know what you're doing. This whole process is fairly simple and overthinking or stressing can hurt you more than help you. Good luck my friend!