What size are hatchlings head's?

[dr del]

Hi,

After waiting and re-candling the eggs I'm now relatively confident about two of them (number of veins noticibly increased/thicker) and hopefull of a third.

If I had had a camera I would have liked to take photographs of the infertile ones as I couldn't find any pic's of those on the net and thought it might have been usefull - just an idea if anyone else is unlucky enough to get one (touch wood it never happens) .I did find a nice pic of a fertile egg getting candled - just not an infertile one.


So now I have a question - what size are ball python babies heads at hatching?

I ask because the egg boxes I use for cornsnake eggs arent big enough - can't get the lid on without touching the bp eggs.


I dont have any of the really small plastic mesh but I do have some with 1cm (diagonal) holes and was wondering if this was small enough to prevent the babies from escaping into the incubator?


If it isn't can anyone recomend a source for better mesh in the uk?



dr del

[daniel1983]

....baby ball pythons are all 'head'....LOL......I used the rule.. "If your pinky finger can fit through it, so can the baby ball"

1 cm x 1 cm holes sounds small enough to me.

Hope that helps

[Rapture]

Infertile eggs will glow yellow/orange and lack veins.

Here's a pic:
http://www.joecompelreptiles.com/ima...fert_egg_2.jpg

[dr del]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info - bookmarked that site as it was one I had somehow managed to miss

Will make the new egg boxes tomorrow and put them in the incubator to soak up the heat and humidity for a couple of days once the silicon has cured. Don't know how important that would be for the eggies but it seems a sensible precaution.

Since none of the eggs I have are stuck together do you think it would be advisable to put one egg per box? ( not expecting any more and there's room enough for 3 boxes). Or do you think that will have no benefits
- none of them have any fungus or anything though the one I'm unsure of is slightly dented at one end and has been since I found it.

The incubator is a 24x18x12 fishtank covered in 1" polystyrene and half full of water with an aquarium heater in it so humidity is pretty much 100% at all times. Temp's seem stable at around 31-32 degrees C (peaked at 32.8 so far and lowest was 30.6). I've used this for years to hatch out cornsnakes and leopard gecko's but this is the first time I've had python eggs and am as nervous as any new father


dr del