Quote Originally Posted by Python Dreams View Post
I used to hyper-focus on making sure every shelf in the Natures Spirit was as close to 89.5 as I could... Last year I said screw it, I will just set the HELIX at 90 and go from there... The containers were actually a few degrees colder and I had twin babies die in the egg (Pastel Crystal and probably 5 gram Pastel Mojave) along with a couple kinked babies early in the year... I then paid more attention to the temperatures having to set the HELIX up a couple degrees... I dont believe I had any more problems.
I have always heard about how tough Ball Python eggs are... I have known of someone throwing a clutch in his backpack, hopping on his motorcycle, and then riding ten or fifteen minutes to an incubator. I have heard that they have dropped probes in the egg pits in Africa and have found temps up to 100 degrees without problems.... I even heard (through the grapevine) of a breeder claiming that hes noticed if you incubate at 89 = 60 days, incubate at 90 = 55 days, and incubate at 91 = 50 days...
I dont stress out as much if I see the incubator go up a few degrees... I have a closet incubator now and I set the HELIX at 93 degrees. I have 5 probes inside the incubator and I generally have temps right about at 90 to 90.5.... My clutches have been hatching at day 52 with higher numbers of females.

I would rather a little warmer than colder... Just my opinion...
Hey Tom. I know this is an old thread but I was wondering what you ended up wtih last year in terms of sex ratio? Did the slightly higher temps continue to yield a higher percentage of females? Are they thriving?

Thanks!