We Have Touchdown!

And seven at once!

Miranth, 2600g female, laid these either Saturday night or Sunday. They all look good, no boob eggs, no windows, no denting/wrinkling. I weighed her afterwards and she was around 1950g, so nice, good-sized eggs, right? Temps are holding steady at 88.5 and the tub doesn't have any condensation in it(egg boxes are air tight).

Oh, and yes, I about peed myself when I saw :-D

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...PICT0002-3.jpg

Mom:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/PICT0008.jpg

Dad(who is only 10 months old, 800g, and a huge fatty Muahaha):
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...y/PICT0024.jpg

Thank you for looking!

Congratulations Becky!! :carrot: Those eggs look GREAT, as does mom and dad. :sunny:

Awesome noob Ecky :clap:


Now the hard part :evileye:

Lovely plump looking eggs - and dad is a total sweetheart by the look of him.
:rockon: :rockon: :carrot: :carrot:


So when does mom get her celebratory rat? :D



dr del

Haha, I don't think it will be hard. Thank GAWD there's a window in that door, otherwise I really would have had a seizure or something :-D

So do they look ok?

I know I don't have to tell you how thrilled and excited I am but....

OMG BECKY, LOOK AT THOSE FREAKIN EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am actually crying right now. Now I almost feel like I was there when you first saw them. I think I would have passed right out!

55 days is too long to wait, who came up with that rule? I don't think I can make it that long!

Isn't that first sight of eggs awesome?! It looks like Miranth did a great job, as those eggs look perfect. Now the REAL countdown begins. ;)

The look AWESOME!!!


The only suggestion I have is fill a small container of water, place it in the incubator for a couple of hours to steady the temp and then fill the substrate all the way to the grate with the water.

Well, the grate is sitting on the vermic/perlite, and water is sloshy in there. Should I remove some of the substrate because the uppermost egg is about
| | that far away from the top of the lid?

I can always take the other tub out, remove some of the mixture, add a bit more water(warmed water that's been in the incubator), and quickly move the eggs to that one? Or are they ok?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Or are they ok?

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I think if you just add water to what you have already so that the water sloshy level is up to the bottom of the grate you will be perfect :nerd:

Will do! I have some extra 6qt tubs, so I will fill one with some lukewarm water and stick it in the bottom of the 'bator.

Thank you so much for your help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Thank you so much for your help!

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I am but your humble servant :bow:

YEA!!!! AGH! Congrats Becky!!!! :carrot: :D :carrot:

Oh Becky how wonderful! Congrats sweetie on your first ball python eggs! :hug:

enjoy your wait. and great looking eggs when are you going to candle them

Congrats!

I found the wait to be really hard for the first week or so, and the last week is a killer.

My eggs started pipping on Saturday and those last 5 days were the VERY hardest. You'll do fine though!

deb

They look great Becky, congrats!! Hopin' for pastels for ya :D .

-Evan

nice chunky eggs!:D :fest: :banana:




vaughn

Got that small tub of water in there and everything has stabilized well. The top tub stays at 90.1+- while the ambient says 88(what the thermostat is set at). Why?

Humidity is reading high in the whole incubator and everything looks good. I'm about to go add the water to the egg box in a sec.

And I'm very glad they look ok, I was curious since I've never seen them in person.

Becky, they look great. Congrats on that nice clutch. Mom should be proud of those beautiful eggs. There is no other feeling like looking in on some new pearly whites. Now for the infamous wait. And you thought ovulation to eggs was long.

Congrats!!!!! :rockon:

Congrats Becky and Miranth!!! They all look to fine healthy eggs!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MPenn

They all look to fine healthy eggs!!!

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To be or not to be :nerd:

CONGRATS gotta be the best feeling seeing you're first clutch. hoping ya get a nice fifty fifty split , at worst .

Just an update :)

All seven are still doing great, nice and pearly white. No denting or discoloration whatsoever. I already vented the egg box once yesterday for about 5-10 seconds just to exchange the air. Humidity in the whole incubator is reading high, so 95-100%?

Only problem is:
In the incubator, the temps at the top and in the upper egg box(unoccupied) are still too high and they fluctuate(88-92), whereas in the middle, temps are a steady 87-88 in the occupied egg box. I have a 4" computer fan running 24/7 across a 6qt tub of water on the bottom.

How can I remedy this? Thanks!

Hi,


Would adding a second computer fan placed in the top and blowing at a downwards angle improve the airflow and prevent pockets of warmer air forming or do you think this isn't the problem?


dr del

If you have a sealed egg box with humidity inside the box. The humidity in the incubator isn't necessary, I would move the fan and either have it blow from bottom to top or top to bottom. ;)

So maybe install it in the back so it's blowing air from the top(towards the door) and in a circular pattern downwards? I have a good bit of velcro so maybe I can use that to hook it to the back and top.

I can also move the top shelf to the bottom where temps are stable. I just don't know why the temps fluctuate so much just at the top. The temp probe is more near the top and hanging about 2" away from the flexwatt(I wound it around the wire shelf so it would hang down a bit).

Thank you so much for helping me get this stuff situated!

I'm happy the eggs are doing good though :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

So maybe install it in the back so it's blowing air from the top(towards the door) and in a circular pattern downwards? I have a good bit of velcro so maybe I can use that to hook it to the back and top.

I can also move the top shelf to the bottom where temps are stable. I just don't know why the temps fluctuate so much just at the top. The temp probe is more near the top and hanging about 2" away from the flexwatt(I wound it around the wire shelf so it would hang down a bit).

Thank you so much for helping me get this stuff situated!

I'm happy the eggs are doing good though :)

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Heat likes to build up at the top, and raises during the day when the temps are naturally a little warmer. Having a fan blow from the top to the bottom will "mix" the air more effectively. After you change your fan setup, you will want to check your temps again. Your temp at the bottom of the incubator should be really close to the temp at the top, if it isn't then you need a larger fan to circulate the air more. :D

Becky,
Just my 2 cents. I wouldn't worry about the unoccupied box just yet. I keep 2 or 3 boxes in my bator ready at all times. I have always noticed that they seem to be more unstable when there are no eggs in them. For now, I would worry about the box with eggs in it. If that box is fine, I wouldn't worry. Ball python eggs are pretty resilient, so once you get the other eggs, set them up in the box, and then watch the temps in that box. It sounds to me like your bator is working perfect for now. Please call or PM if you need any more help.

Sincerely,

what is the dad? pastel?

Congrats Becky!!!!!



Neil

Yep, the dad is a Lemon Pastel(very wonky pattern that I just LOVE).

And I also candled the eggs and all have nice, big veins.

the incubator is still giving me grief, or the thermostat is... I finally went so far as to tape the probe to the flexwatt and covered it completely with foil tape. The temp swings were getting out of hand... 94 was the highest temp and it would get down to 86... I'm sitting here puzzled..

Thermostat is a normal Herpstat, and you would think if the temps inside were stable, and even with the fan blowing warm air everywhere, that it would regulate everything within a degree?

The egg boxes got up to 92 and I was just NOT happy with that. I do not want these eggs to die because of temp fluctuations.

My room doesn't fluctuate much; it may get warmer during the day(76-77) and stay about 75-76 at night, but the thermostat would account for that, yes? Hopefully just attaching the probe to the flexwatt will help.

Just a couple questions Becky. I don't remember what your incubator looks like. How big is it? How much flexwatt is in there? Is your flexwatt covered with anything? When I first setup my old cooler incubator, I had used 2 sections of 3" flexwatt 3 ft long and then had bottles filled with rock on top as a heat sink. I found my temps were getting too high. I ended up only using one of the sections of flexwatt and took out half the bottles of rock. I never had a problem after that.

I just think the Herpstat is failing on me. It was used by the original owner last year with a Helix and the temps never fluxed.

I ordered a Helix from Reptile Basics, so hopefully it will be here within the next week. Can I use a JC tstat in the meantime?

The incubator is a good-sized mini-fridge with about 3ft of 11" flexwatt and a 4" computer fan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I just think the Herpstat is failing on me. It was used by the original owner last year with a Helix and the temps never fluxed.

I ordered a Helix from Reptile Basics, so hopefully it will be here within the next week. Can I use a JC tstat in the meantime?

The incubator is a good-sized mini-fridge with about 3ft of 11" flexwatt and a 4" computer fan.

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Give Dion at Spyder Robotics an email, he has great customer service and might help you out. ;)

sales@spyderrobotics.com

I replaced it with a JC tstat and everything's fine now.. temps holding at 88-89. Ordered a Helix as well and it should arrive within the week.

I'll probably email Dion and see if he wants to take a look at it and see if there's something wrong with it.