Good parents?

[Vette]

Hey, as some I of you know I know I haven't even bought my first python and can't yet consider breeding. However, out of curiosity I have a question about female BP being "good parents".
>Aparently they coil around the eggs and protect them during their incubation. Do any of you leave the feamale with the eggs, or do you seperate them. Why?
>I will be very interested in any answers and,as always, replies will be appreciated!Thanks

[gozetec02]

Some breeders choose to incubate the eggs in an incubator to ensure all the fertilized eggs will hatch. Yet some people who dont have incubators let mother nature take its course. A female ball python will stay on her eggs untill they hatch. They wont eat or even drink water for the entire gestation period of 60 days. Then once the eggs hatch the hatchlings stay atached to the yoke fo a while and absorb all its nutrients. Then they are on their own. They will shed with in 10 days and have their first meal shortly after that. Pretty efficiant i say. Maybe this is why they have survived for millions of years.

[emroul]

I personally choose to incubate the fertile eggs artificially. As mentioned above, it ensures that the eggs will hatch (as long as you keep the temps and humidity 100% accurate). I think it is safe to say that the majority of python breeders choose to do it this way. There are a few, however, that let the mother do the job. There are a couple things that are very important to put into persective when doing this, though. One, for those 60 days that she is "incubating" the eggs, she will recieve no needed nutrients from food (and she may not drink during this time, either). This is okay, but she has to be in tip-top-perfect-health (and on the hefty side). Also, the humidity in the enclosure needs to be very high in order to keep the eggs alive; and the temps need to be right on the dot; and there should be very little to no fluctuations.

I personally think that doing it that way causes two extra months of unneeded stress for the female. After she lays her eggs, she is INCREDIBLY under weight (think about it, depending on how many eggs she lays, she could be anywhere from 500-1500 grams less than she was pre-lay). I think that this is the time to get her back on a proper diet and get her back up to normal weight. Just my $0.02.

Jennifer

[RandyRemington]

Here is a page about my one experience with maternal incubation:

http://homevtour.home.comcast.net/m9...nvpib_2003.htm

I did provide a water dish that she could reach without completely uncoiling. I'm not sure that she used it but I've heard that they might be able to pass fluids to help keep the eggs moist so I would provide water just in case.

[Eddie_Z]

Jennifer, out of curiousity, how difficult is it to seperate momma from her eggs? Is she really defensive about being maneuvered after she lays them & does she lash out to protect them when you try to get them out??

I have no intentions of breeding anytime soon, if at all. I was just drawn to ask this question out of curiousity when i read this thread.

[JLC]

Excellent question, Eddie! I'll be watching for an answer....

[Wizill]

that IS a good question, and one i've always wondered about. i watched steve irwin seperate a retic from her eggs, and he claims that they go into a 'trance-like state' when laying eggs like crocs do.

[JLC]

Hehe....yeah, so if you catch them while they're laying the eggs, you might be able to get them out without too much drama...but can you imagine trying to get a retic's eggs away from mama the day after she's laid them???

[gozetec02]

After all that work i would be a little pissed off too. LOL

[Hillary]

Hello all,
I like to use an incubator because it allows the females time to put their weight back on and it allows me unlimited access to the eggs during incubation. Pulling eggs away from the females requires patience and skill. However, most of these snakes have been handled daily and are very accustomed to human interaction. First, you should mark the eggs with a pencil. I make a small x on the top of the few eggs I can see and that way I can maintain their position. I have great success using a cloth bag placed over the snake's head and gently begin pulling her up into the bag and away from the eggs. I like to keep a hand on the egg mass to reduce tipping or spilling. They almost never bite but they will do quite a bit of hissing. Once you have mom off and securely tied in the bag you should have your egg medium (vermiculite or perlite) ready to go by the side of the cage. Once you pull mom, the temperatures surrounding the eggs drops so you need to move quickly. I like to have my incubator set up for a week prior so the temps don't fluctuate as much after the eggs are placed inside. It is a very good idea to throw away all the bedding material, the cage substrate and clean the cage throughly so the smell of the eggs doesn't remain. This helps the females return to normal behavior after their huge egg laying effort.



Hope this helps!