Quote Originally Posted by bokuza View Post
This thread is entirely exhilarating! I have been looking for detailed logs of maternal incubation for quite some time. I entirely agree with you, I had watched a female have her clutch of 4 removed and the sheer panic that ensued tugged on my heart strings. Why take the eggs away from a committed mother? Besides watching and understanding the natural maternal incubation of the python you plan to breed and continue to breed (if you choose to commit to ball pythons) should be the first and for most step before creation of your own incubator and mass breeding. At least this is in my current approach...Green behind the ears I have purchased my first female cinny a few days ago too~ My plan is to pair her with my high gold male. I've bookmarked this thread for future reference. Would you mind if I asked a few questions though?

Currently your BPs are housed in a rack system, correct? Forgive me if this has been asked but what size are your tubs? Besides the cypress mulch and the water bowl there isn't anything else in the tubs? It seems simple. My tubs seem to have a failing humidity point however. I must mist it down several times a day to keep it up, I think it's possible that the lids I use are not tight enough to trap humidity. Are you using a DIY tub system? If not, what is it?
I don't mind at all.

Last year I kept my female in a 40g breeder tank but I've always had issues with keeping humidity up in glass cages so I gave her a lay box (31qt sterilite tub lined with sphagnum moss and hole cut in the lid for easy entry and exit for the female). Here's a link to last year's clutch.

This year, the majority of my snakes are kept in either 32qt or 41qt sterilite brand tubs, depending on their size. There are hide boxes for juvenile snakes but none for the older ones - just the substrate (I use cypress mulch, shredded aspen, or sanichips.. whatever is readily available at the moment, really) and water bowl in those tubs. I used a wood burning wand to burn holes along the front and sides of the tubs for ventilation and because of a miscalculation when we were building our rack, the tubs must be shelved with lids on. It's a minor inconvenience when I need to get into a tub to refill water, feed, or otherwise check in on snakes but I think humidity is better trapped with lidded tubs so I'm not going to complain. The humidity in my tubs seems to linger around 70-80%. The snakes seem to do well in either living arrangement so long as the humidity isn't dropping below 60%, but I think those in the tubs are probably more comfortable - they always have complete sheds and their skin feels supple rather than dry/tough like some of the snakes in the glass enclosures.