Hello all,
I like to use an incubator because it allows the females time to put their weight back on and it allows me unlimited access to the eggs during incubation. Pulling eggs away from the females requires patience and skill. However, most of these snakes have been handled daily and are very accustomed to human interaction. First, you should mark the eggs with a pencil. I make a small x on the top of the few eggs I can see and that way I can maintain their position. I have great success using a cloth bag placed over the snake's head and gently begin pulling her up into the bag and away from the eggs. I like to keep a hand on the egg mass to reduce tipping or spilling. They almost never bite but they will do quite a bit of hissing. Once you have mom off and securely tied in the bag you should have your egg medium (vermiculite or perlite) ready to go by the side of the cage. Once you pull mom, the temperatures surrounding the eggs drops so you need to move quickly. I like to have my incubator set up for a week prior so the temps don't fluctuate as much after the eggs are placed inside. It is a very good idea to throw away all the bedding material, the cage substrate and clean the cage throughly so the smell of the eggs doesn't remain. This helps the females return to normal behavior after their huge egg laying effort.



Hope this helps!