Woke up this morning to 7 eggs...

[selcouthkat]

First post! Looking for as much information on the internet because I am not quite sure what I am doing.

My female ball just laid 7 eggs this morning. Problem is, when I adopted her and her cage mate (male), I had no idea she was pregnant. She never showed any signs that I had read about (turning her belly up, etc), and her body never appeared to be "carrying" anything egg-like. I even picked her up and felt her belly to feel anything hard to make sure because the guy I adopted them from told me she "might" be pregnant. Seeing this as a predicament of a male and female together, I began to look for another home to give one to (telling them, of course, she could be pregnant). I just thought she had really good muscle tone and was well-fed.

Well, she beat me to it. I woke up to five eggs, and witnessed the last two. I'm a mixture of anxious, excitement, and fear.

So, as you might know, I have a few questions. I know I'm going to let her do her thing in terms of incubation. The temp and humidity is good. I've covered her in a light cloth to give her privacy.

Question one is, feeding. Since I adopted her (roughly a month and a half ago), she has not eaten for me. Since she is going to be curled around her eggs for two more months, this really concerns me. I usually feed them in a separate tank with thawed mice. Having her not eat for 3 and a half months worries me. Should I attempt to feed her a thawed mouse in her tank? Definitely do not want to encourage her to move for fear that she will rotate her eggs.

My other question is, what on earth should I do with her children? I know a local zoo who is looking for pythons, and maybe I can find a few people through the internet, but I don't know about their legitimacy. Does anyone know the best way I should go about finding them a good home?

My next question what percentage of eggs through natural incubation hatch into healthy little ones?

And my last question is, I love both snakes, but I don't want this happening again (unless someone gives me a good reason otherwise ie more captive bred vs wild caught & bringing more unwanted reptiles into the world). Will it be effective to keep her from getting pregnant if I keep them in the same tank, but separate them during the mating seasons?

Thanks a lot guys, and information and advice will really help