Egg advice

[waynehebb]

I am not new to keeping ball pythons, but am somewhat new to breeding. I had one clutch of ball python eggs a couple years ago, but I was using one of the incubators you buy from zoo med and the eggs went bad because it did not hold a good temp or humidity. I not have 2 clutches of eggs am very excited to hatch my first ball pythons.

I made my own incubator that keeps perfect temp and humidity. It has a circulation fan so all areas of the incubator have consistent temp and humidity.

I have 6 eggs from a cinnamon female to a cinnamon male. They looked good all the way through the incubation process. At 60 days, I cut the eggs because I am impatient and because I have heard stories of snakes getting stuck in the egg and drowning.

Today is day 65 and they do not seem at all ready to come out. How long before I worry?? They all appear to be alive and the eggs do not look too bad, but I expected them to be more active by this point. I hit great odds (3 supers, 2 cinnamons, and 1 normal)

Do I just leave them alone till day 70 or 75 or 80??

[bondo]

You don't have a choice but to leave them alone. Sounds like your temps were really cool or you had a fluctuation going on.

[waynehebb]

The temps were pretty consistent. I guess with in a couple of degrees. The temps were right from the beginning, but the humidity took a few days to get right. Days 1, 2, and 3 I had trouble getting the humidity above 70%. Then I put plastic wrap over the tub and got it up to 99%. I have kept the temps at 86 degrees since day 1. It may drop to 75 or 80 degrees when I open the incubator to check things out, but that's only once in a while. Naturally, I have checked daily since I cut the eggs on day 60. Thank you for the advice. I figured you basically you just leave the eggs alone.

[bcr229]

I have kept the temps at 86 degrees since day 1.

People who incubate at 89*F see pippers about day 55. At 86*F you shouldn't see pippers until day 65.

My first clutch I incubated at 86.5*F and the first pipper was at day 63. Once I had the first pipper I cut the rest of the eggs, and they all came out over the next few days.

[waynehebb]

I guess I cut too early. If I just leave them alone, will they still b ok?? I read incubate at 86 degrees and cut at 60 days, but I guess I could have read wrong, or combined information from 2 different websites.. Thanks again for the info..

[bcr229]

Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't dry out, but otherwise leave them alone.