First eggs of 2013!

[FireStorm]

When you offer food while they are coiled around them do they ever leave the eggs? Have you ever had an egg roll out or maybe be damaged by the female constricting the rodent? I only ask cuz i wanna maternal incubation next season with atleast one of my girls.

Also you have had luck feeding after ovulation? How small of a meal do you offer? I always offer smaller rodents than my snakes are use to during the breeding season how ever iv never had a female eat after ovulation.

Our females maternally incubated 28 clutches last yr, and we are expecting at least 34 clutches this year.

Some of mine leave the eggs to eat and some stay partially coiled on the eggs when they eat. I have not had any issues with the eggs being disturbed or damaged by feeding. I just use rat pups, since I don't think a rat pup could damage the eggs, but maybe a bigger rat could (I feed live).

As far as getting females to eat after ovulation, I don't know that there is much you can do to encourage them...they either eat or they don't. We started offering after ovulation because I had one female that we didn't see ovulation with, and she ate up until the week she laid eggs (this was back in our first breeding season, about 6yrs ago). We didn't even think she was gravid until we found her on eggs. So now we offer small meals even after ovulation, and about 10-15% of our females take them.