Maternal or external incubation for a noob?

[moonlightgdess]

Hey there, I have my first two clutches ever and I was wondering what's the best way (or, should I say, most fool proof way) of incubation? Right now I've got the moms sitting on them but I also have the reptibator fired up while I acquire some vermiculite. One clutch is a week old, one was laid this morning. Thanks in advance!

[JodanOrNoDan]

It is generally easier to use an incubator. If you want to breed the females next season taking the eggs is a must.

[Lizardlicks]

It's funny that maternal incubation is considered the more advanced technique when the mom would usually take care of everything without any help in the wild, but in they wild she can also choose where to lay and many babies still don't make it. In our homes they're kept to enclosures, and can't move to find someplace that might be better. For a first timer, best to buy or build an incubator, run it simulating full capacity so you can dial in your parameters, then pull the eggs and artificially incubate when the time comes. Later, you can try experimenting with maternal incubation.

[Oxylepy]

I've had success with maternal incubation.

In order to pull it off you need to invest a lot of trust in your setup. You need the right temperatures, you need the right humidity, and you need these to hold without going over for an extended period of time.

The BP can, to an extent, control some of the conditions for the eggs. This is viewed as an upward trend. So if you are a couple percent low on humidity and a degree or two low on heat, the BP should be able to handle it. But to do this requires some effort on the female. Thus reducing those necessaties is vital. Also note that if the trend is upward only, your setup cannot be too high because it cannot be mitigated by the mother.

It's tricky, again it requires a lot of trust in your setup. Incubation is preferable because it's more foolproof.