I'm in over my head

[MelanieS]

I bought a ball python off CL on Thursday. I immediately realized she was sick and took her to the vet yesterday. She has a resp infection and the vet sent me home with some shots to give her (Baytril). Vet said it was very poorly taken care of, its eyes are wrinkled. This is my first snake. Ok, if that's not bad enough. Vet said she is gravid and near term. Well, she laid 3 eggs this morning.

So now, I'm a new snake owner with eggs and I have to take her off her eggs to give her daily shots.

2 of the eggs appear viable. One doesn't, but I've never seen snake eggs before (the one in question is half yellow, not bright white like the others). Her warm side of the cage is about 87 degrees (3 inches from bottom of the cage) with a heating pad underneath and a heat lamp on top, humidity 75%. I'm debating on whether to let her incubate or take them out and do it myself with the vermiculite.

Any advice for a total newbie with this much going on? (And believe me, I know I messed up buying this snake). I got her off the eggs and gave her a shot about an hour ago, so I'm feeling a little better about that part. (this was huge for me, since I have never handled such a large snake)

[Mike41793]

Where do you live? Perhaps a member nearby who has an incubator could take the eggs in for you and hatch them for you.

[MelanieS]

Where do you live? Perhaps a member nearby who has an incubator could take the eggs in for you and hatch them for you.

Southern Middle Tn. Close to winchester

[Pythonfriend]

i would throw out the smaller, yellowy egg, that sounds like a slug / like an infertile egg. These can only rot, and maybe harm the other eggs.


Yes, finding a local breeder that has an incubator in operation might be the best idea. If you dont plan on breeding and only have this one BP and these two eggs, building / getting an incubator may be a bit much to ask for. Doing it naturally by trying to get the area of the enclosure where the eggs are to the right temperature and humidity is also an option.

oh, and pictures always help a lot.

[BlueMoonExotics]

Wow ! How irresponsible of the person selling you this snake! Good luck and let us know how it goes for mother and babies!

[MelanieS]

Wow ! How irresponsible of the person selling you this snake! Good luck and let us know how it goes for mother and babies!

[MelanieS]

[rabernet]

I'd keep that 1/2 yellow egg in there. T's what we call a boob egg and could be viable.

Sent from my Samsung Note II using Tapatalk 2

[Mike41793]

Southern Middle Tn. Close to winchester

Rabernet and deborah are in GA i think, idk how close to you though. 3skulls is in KY, once again, idk how close to you though.

If you want to try to make an incubator its not terribly difficult. There's a DIY guide on here under the breeding forum.

[mechnut450]

First welcome to the forms.
man that sucks, on getting a new snake not only sick but gravid too when your not yet ready for such issues. I hope your able to find a way to incubate those eggs. ( I offer if was closer but TN a long way from DE) Look at it this way you just got a crash course I snake care.
maybe you get really lucky and those eggs carry a morph and you will gotten into ball pythons addiction really fast lol.
good luck and keep everyone up to date.