So apparently, Ball Pythons are capable of Parthenogenesis, which is essentially when a female animal has offspring without any male sperm. I've had my Ball Python for about 10-11 years, and she was a yearling or around there when I got her, though I only discovered she was female a little under a year ago. And this Tuesday, I discovered also that apparently she is capable of Parthenogenesis, as I found her coiled around a clutch of eggs. I candled one and found blood vessels.
So I did a lot of reading and stuff, and read that stickied thread about Maternal incubation after someone suggested the idea. I'm getting a proper incubation thermometer/hydrometer by Saturday according to USPS, but for the meantime I've taken the tank probes and put them near her (they don't reach as well because they are siliconed to the side; I hope I can put the new probes snugly between her and the eggs). I bought some Vermiculite, mixed it with water, and distributed some around her. She's in a little black plastic hide on the warm side of the tank. The thermostat is set to 92 for the UTH but the eggs seem to be reading around 86-88 with my temp gun.
She's in a wooden/glass enclosure with a sliding door so it keeps in humidity well. I'm trying to get the current probe to read around at least 80%; I've heard 90% is ideal but the stickied thread suggested around 80% for maternal incubation.
I should mention I'm a graduate student and was not planning at all to incubate python eggs. This caught me entirely by surprise. I understand this phenomena is exceedingly rare in Ball Pythons so the dye just happened to roll this way. Any additional tips anyone could suggest?
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