Quote Originally Posted by youbeyouibei View Post
That's hilarious and absolutely on the healthy babies, minimum crying, please! I'm excited to see the process, start to finish with her and her little ones. Doing my best not to stress it and the incubator was the biggest worry I had but since that's done, now it's just a matter of waiting...which I'm terrible at, lol! That's awesome that you bought yours glowing/hopefully gravid. I don't know how a car trip of that duration would effect her or if it would make any difference or not. I worried about that with this girl, if the flight over from Africa and then from Virgina to my house would have a negative impact on her or not. I'm hoping she's as hardy as they're rumored to be and that it won't have any adverse effects on her or her eggs. That's funny you mention that about the thermometer probe; I have one set up that same way and considered getting another one as well to monitor the temps closer to the bottom of the incubator where the egg box would be located. I also bought and wired a computer fan to hook up if the temps fluctuate too much from top to bottom but so far I haven't needed it.

Tomorrow I'm mixing up the vermiculite and setting up an egg tub to get it warmed up and ready to go so I can make adjustments if I need to. Seems like it never ends and amen to being paranoid, lol! I could stand it if something goes wrong or the eggs were slugs or she doesn't go but if it was something I did that caused me to lose the clutch...I might take up scrapbooking instead and sell my snakes rather than risk losing a clutch again, lol! I was shooting for a range on the temp too, as from what I've read that's more realistic and mirrors natural conditions more closely. I've read (true or not, I don't know)that babies that are incubated with a mild range of temps (2-3 degrees variation) tend to be healthier/more robust out of the egg than ones that are hatched at a constant temp, so long as it's a gradually increase/decrease cycle and not a massive spike or drop, which can lead to deformities and such. This is a first for me as far as trying to hatch any out, so it's been a constant debate of what temps to incubate at, substrate or substrateless incubation method, build an incubator or buy one, etc. My wife and I are expecting our first toward the end of May, so if that's anything like what this is, I'm sunk, lol! I thought this would be a great distraction from worrying about drywalling, painting, picking nursery furniture, OB appointments, childbirthing classes, etc. and instead, I'm a worse wreck now than what I was just thinking about A baby instead of multiples! AC/DC's "Crazy Train" comes to mind quite often, for whatever reason, lmao!
Hahaha! This all just cracks me up! Same here! I am horrible at waiting! I'm one of those 'instant gratification' people, so this is really teaching me to be patient and respect waiting. Heck, I worry that I worry the snake checking in on it so much! She's probably like "Leave me alone and let me do my thing, crazy lady!"

So far the car trip doesn't seem to have affected her too negatively. We bought a collection, she was the only one who seemed to be baking anything in her oven. But she's continued to show all the good signs of building, and I've continued to pair her with the males. The last couple of times, nothing has happened. They don't even seem interested. So I'm hoping that's a good sign too. I guess we will see! I've heard too many stories of stressed snakes reabsorbing their follicles, so I hope I've kept her happy. Funny how we will go to these lengths to keep a BP pleased, huh??

I was on my way to get vermiculite today! then I realized I didn't have enough time before my monkeys got off the bus, so it'll have to wait until Monday.I'm excited to see how the tubs set up!

You are going to have your hands really full soon! A new baby!! How exciting! Well, for sure it's a shock to the system, but you'll be surprised how quickly you will adjust! Babies are great. I have had three of them It's a magical and amazing experience. And busy.... and tiresome and you know, I did all three of mine naturally and never did a childbirth class.... lol I was always too busy to attend them. Don't forget to BREATHE! but not too much, or you'll hyperventilate!