Nesting behavior?

[Iris]

My friend's amel. corn, Juliet, is very gravid and lately she has been very restless. She rubs her head along the glass and tries to push through the screen top.
Do you think that she is searching for a place to nest?
Or is she just hungry?
Also, she is housed with her male friend (Romeo, DUH!;)). Would this cause any problems?
I'm not really worried because last year the former owner did nothing at all for the snakes except take out the eggs and incubate them and he still had a 100% hatch rate. I'm still sorta convinced that this was a case of great luck though...
So anyway, any tips or advice on what my friend should/should not be doing?
I'm hoping there will be a lot of cute little baby snakes soon because if there are, I'm taking one home with me woo hoo! :D I get first pick too.

[nicky]

Well I'm a totally un sure on this but I would be thinking that it's probably like breeding behaviour i think I heard steve(croc hunter my rolll model) talk about crocs doing nesting behaviour maybe that applys to corns as well? When did you last feed her? If it's been ahwile maybe feed her but again i'm a total unsure person in this subject kevin or iris or those other smart people may know thoe? maybe.
hope the laying of the eggs go well!

[Elaphe_Mo]

She is probably looking for a good place to lay her eggs. I'm not sure about having the male in there...personally I wouldn't risk it but it might not be a problem. Also is there a good place for her to lay her eggs in the cage (moss in a dark box works nicely) ? I wouldn't want the eggs being laid in the water dish...

[Iris]

ok that's what i thought. Would moist vermiculite be ok do you think? He's got plenty of vermiculite so he could use that in the nesting boxl

[Simon]

Originally posted by Iris
He's got plenty of vermiculite so he could use that in the nesting boxl

er.....He? You are talking about her right...........lol

well I would add some sphagnum moss in it to provide a little 'carpet' for the eggs to be laid in. But I don't think that just vermiculite would hurt. Make sure that it's moist enough though okay?

Good luck and Happy Herping!

[Iris]

LOL no I meant "he" meaning the actual owner of the snake..not the snake herself.
Don't some people just use moist paper towels? I think I read that somewhere...maybe not heh
About how humid does it have to be inside the box?

[Simon]

Originally posted by Iris
LOL no I meant "he" meaning the actual owner of the snake..not the snake herself.
Don't some people just use moist paper towels? I think I read that somewhere...maybe not heh
About how humid does it have to be inside the box?

hahahah I thought that you were talking about the snake.....

yes some people use moist paper towels.....but that is when the eggs have been laid......that is to keep the eggs moist. Doing that will keep the eggs moist and at the same time not to drown them in water. But since you said substrates for the corns's nesting........I don't really think that the moist paper towels work....well at least from what I think....
The humidity in the box should be kept as high as possible that is near 90 to 100. But remember not to have the eggs drowning in water. Serpwidget's homemade hovabator is good since it keeps the temperature (well except that little accident that he had with the increased temp in the upside down tub) and since the temp is from the water it keeps the humidity high too. So something like that is good.

Good luck and Happy Herping!

[Darin Chappell]

The male should pose no threat to her or to her eggs, but separate them if it will make you feel better. I would provide her with a box of some sort (I use a tupperware type box with a hole cut in the lid), filled halfway with vermiculite, pearlite, or sphagnum moss. I use pearlite simply because it is less messy to use and keeps its water content longer in my opinion. She is looking for a place to lay her eggs, and you need to provide her one or she may very well lay them in her water dish, in which case they can drown before you find them.

If she has not shed, be looking for it. Usually a female will shed her skin just a week or two before she lays her eggs. When she does this, it will be extra important for you to check on her more often.

Have fun and good luck!

Darin

[Iris]

Well he made a nesting box out of a shoebox and filled it about...1/4 with peat moss. She zipped right in there as soon as he put the box in the tank. And we separated the male anyway because he was getting annoyed that she was crawling over him and all around the cage. Maybe he didn't mind. I don't know. But he's in a different tank anyway. :)
Hopefully she will start laying soon.