This is an awesome thread, love it! So looking forward to the updates
I know this is kinda late, but on female ball pythons raising the temperature of their broods . . . I think, maybe they can. Most if not all of the carpet subspecies can, so can a few (most?) other pythons. (Actually, I've never seen literally suggestions diamonds specifically
can't, and am pretty curious who wrote that?)
I went MI last year with a retained sperm clutch I hadn't planned on, enjoyed the heck out of it, and will do it again. Last summer was very cool here. Temps in my studio, where the snakes are, frequently dipped to the low 70s and upper 60s. I had to grab my notes for this, but on June 12th, the lowest temperature recorded in the room was 67 degrees. The ambient temperature in the cage was 72, with a reading of 75 closer to the nest. Dahlia never let the probe stay with the eggs, so I don't know what temperature they were actually experience. This was Day 10. Granted, she nested half on, half off, her heat source. The eggs still began pipping 63 days, which is what I get in the incubator.
So, I dunno. Figured it wouldn't hurt to throw that out there.