Thinking back on this past season's clutch

[Jay_Bunny]

I have been trying to figure out why my first ever clutch of ball python eggs did so horribly. So I've decided I'm going to re-play the last stretch of the season back in hopes of finding something I did or something that happened that COULD have caused this.

Akina and Xefaud were paired for the first time in late September of 08. I stopped pairing in mid February. On February 23rd, 2009, we had a giant snowstorm and it knocked out power to many parts of the area. We had just started moving our stuff over to the new place and the animals were still at the old apartment. The new place kept its power since we are so close to the hospital but the other apartment lost its power. We found this out when a friend called and said they'd lost power (same apartment complex) and they had gone over to our apartment and checked on the snakes. They said "Oh, and your female shed." I knew this was her pre-lay shed. Immediately after hanging up the phone, we jumped in the car and drove over to the apartment to get all the snakes. There was no way to move the racks and tanks. Our car has a busted back end and you can't open the back hatch, so moving racks would have to wait. We put everyone in pillowcases and brought them over to the new place. We placed them in the closet with a heater aimed at them (it was a moving heater so they were not getting cooked). I know this sounds horrible, but I really had no choice. They stayed in those pillowcases for several days. I took them out for water daily, and when the racks finally got her (friend with a truck brought them over) I was able to set everyone up. Temps were good, all was well.

So she had a pre-lay shed on February 23rd. March came and went. So did April. I was worried for a while but then thought, "maybe she's just not going to give me eggs this season." I went on with my regular cleaning and feeding, and kept trying to feed her every week. On May 4th some friends came over to see my snakes and when I opened Akina's tub there were eggs! I was so excited, but when I went to put my hand in the tub, I didn't feel warmth like I normally do. I put my hand on the bottom of the tub and it was room temperature. Somehow the heat tape had turned off. I later fiddled with the plugs and got it going again (I think one of the outlets stopped working, I just switched which side it was on and it started right up) I'm not sure how long she was without heat. (I have learned my lesson. Always keep a thermometer in the rack!)

Now the incubator was set up with a single strip of flexwatt. I had it hooked up to a thermostat and checked the temperatures every few days. Temps stayed between 87 and 88.5. We had a storm one night and it blew the power out for about 30 minutes. We tapped up the seal on the incubator with duct tape during this time, so I'm pretty sure the temps didn't drop too low. That was about halfway through incubation or a little more than halfway. Closer to the end of incubation, I had humidity issues but fixed that by adding water to the substrate.

Could any of this, or all of it combined possibly cause 3 fertile eggs to die and go bad, one full term baby turn out severely deformed and die in the egg and one baby hatch but be 37g with kinks?

[JenH]

On May 4th some friends came over to see my snakes and when I opened Akina's tub there were eggs! I was so excited, but when I went to put my hand in the tub, I didn't feel warmth like I normally do. I put my hand on the bottom of the tub and it was room temperature. Somehow the heat tape had turned off. I later fiddled with the plugs and got it going again (I think one of the outlets stopped working, I just switched which side it was on and it started right up) I'm not sure how long she was without heat. (I have learned my lesson. Always keep a thermometer in the rack!)

I'm no expert by any means, but this is the part of the story that jumped out at me. During the building phases they go to the cooler side of the tub, but after ovulation they are on the heat. And they stay there till they lay. If her tub was cold for a few weeks, it could have been the reason those eggs didn't get off to a good start.

Good luck next season!!

[Jay_Bunny]

I don't think it was cold for a few weeks. I would have noticed the tub being cooler during the time I clean and feed. At most it was a week if it stopped working right after the previous weeks cleaning. I think I'm going to invest in some new racks at some point anyway. These are starting to become a problem. One tub won't slide out easily. You have to yank and pull and then when you want to get it back in, I have to use my hip. The two 32qt ones are on top of each other and the pegs that hold them together broke or something because the top one keeps sliding out of place. The 41qt rack is doing fine though.

This season should be better. But just in case I'm going to be doing some major inspections on all my enclosures and wiring and I will be posting up pictures of my incubator to make sure nothing is wrong with that. I am going out and getting a brand new thermometer for it, one that has a probe I can put in the incubator and have the actual thermometer sitting on top. That way I don't have to open the incubator to check temps. Everyone's water bowls are getting upgraded to ceramic ones so they won't be tipped over as easily. (I have a few snakes that think its funny to tip over their water bowls and spill it everywhere. There are even a select few that do it twice a week or more.)

[coolluigi007]

I don't think it was cold for a few weeks. I would have noticed the tub being cooler during the time I clean and feed. At most it was a week if it stopped working right after the previous weeks cleaning. I think I'm going to invest in some new racks at some point anyway. These are starting to become a problem. One tub won't slide out easily. You have to yank and pull and then when you want to get it back in, I have to use my hip. The two 32qt ones are on top of each other and the pegs that hold them together broke or something because the top one keeps sliding out of place. The 41qt rack is doing fine though.

This season should be better. But just in case I'm going to be doing some major inspections on all my enclosures and wiring and I will be posting up pictures of my incubator to make sure nothing is wrong with that. I am going out and getting a brand new thermometer for it, one that has a probe I can put in the incubator and have the actual thermometer sitting on top. That way I don't have to open the incubator to check temps. Everyone's water bowls are getting upgraded to ceramic ones so they won't be tipped over as easily. (I have a few snakes that think its funny to tip over their water bowls and spill it everywhere. There are even a select few that do it twice a week or more.)

I make it a point to check EVERYTHING a few months before I would need it during the breeding season. Check temps, tstats, heat cables, incubaators, lights, space heaters, snakes, (I give them a very good extra once over to make sure they are healthy), double check make sure all my supplies of bedding and everything are well stocked. It made a big difference this year.

[Freakie_frog]

My question is how far into incubation did the eggs die??

[Jay_Bunny]

I opened the first two dead eggs on day 29 but they died before that. They were even at two different stages. The other one died a little before day 48 (I cut it open on day 48). The fourth baby died at full term after I cut the eggs.