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  1. #5
    BPnet Veteran Quiet Tempest's Avatar
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    Re: Woke up this morning to 7 eggs...

    Yikes. Snakes really shouldn't ever be caged together unless you intend for them to breed and even then, it's only a temporary housing situation. Definitely get the male an enclosure of his own if you haven't already. There is no "mating season", per se, and if a male and female are sharing an enclosure then chances are that they will breed.

    Did you already have some experience with ball pythons prior to adopting this female and her mate? If not, it might be better to get an artificial incubator (either store bought or a do-it-yourself variety) up and running and move the eggs to it as soon as the temps and humidity in the egg tub are where they need to be. Having only had the snake for a short while, it might be easier for you to set up her eggs in an incubator and allow yourself a little more time to learn the basics before you're stuck caring for an additional 7 snakes.

    If you're going to allow the mom to maternally incubate, you don't want to turn her enclosure into an incubator. Doing so could make conditions wet in the enclosure and lead to problems with the female. You don't want her in a situation where she's constantly exposed to dampness because it could lead to bacterial infections and belly rot. Leave things basically as you would for any ball python - moderate humidity (60-80%) and temps around 90-95F on the heated side of the enclosure and around 80-85F on the cool side. The humidity will be higher within mom's coils. An artificial incubator simulates those conditions. In the case of a brooding female, you need only provide her with what she needs - she'll provide what the eggs need. Use the eggs as a gauge for the humidity. If they are caving/dimpling then that's your indicator that humidity is too low and you can easily bring it up by adding more substrate or moistened sphagnum moss to the enclosure. I keep my balls in a rack system so humidity isn't that much of an issue. If you're using a tank for yours you may have to keep a closer eye on things to ensure that humidity isn't dropping too low. In a tank I would recommend a nest/lay box (basically an oversized humid hide where she can lay her eggs) but with the eggs already on the ground it may be a bit late for that.

    For feeding. There really isn't a need remove a snake from its enclosure to feed. I remember being told when I was younger that I needed to put my snake in a separate tub or box for feeding or else they would associate me opening their cage with feeding every time. That's really not right at all though it took some time for me to come to that conclusion because I was so certain that the pet store employee knew what they were talking about (ha!). Feeding them in their enclosure makes things simpler for you and less stressful for the snake. In the case of a brooding female, I offer fresh killed food to the mom near her nest. Sometimes they eat regularly on a weekly basis, other times it may be more sporadic on a bi-weekly basis, or you may have a stubborn female that doesn't want to eat at all for the entire 60 +/- days that she's on her eggs. Because they are exerting so little energy during this time, there is very little weight loss occurring while they're brooding so even if a female refuses every meal, it's not something to fret over provided she was of good weight prior to becoming gravid. I wouldn't worry too much about the eggs being rotated. They usually stick together shortly after being laid so chances of an egg tumbling out of the pile are fairly slim. Even if it does happen, it's not an instant death sentence for the embryo inside. Eggs that have been turned either deliberately or by accident during incubation have gone on to hatch perfectly healthy babies. The notion that reptile eggs can't be turned for fear of drowning the developing embryo seems to be a false one based on assumptions rather than any real evidence so if an egg does get turned, don't panic. As long as it is in its mother's coils and not stranded somewhere outside of the nest, it should be perfectly fine.

    This will be my third year breeding ball pythons and maternal incubation is the only method I've ever used for them. So far I haven't lost a single egg or hatchling and I do attribute the 100% hatch rate to having good mothers who are well adapted to care for their clutches. I would encourage anyone to give it a shot at least once if only to experience it for themselves.

    If you're concerned about finding homes for the babies, I would start calling local pet stores and see if they might buy or trade for them. You might be able to work out a deal to trade your offspring for supplies, feeders or store credit.
    Last edited by Quiet Tempest; 04-20-2011 at 08:07 AM.

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    bplover21 (04-20-2011)

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