After the first eggs, how long should I give her to lay?

It took 19 days following the prelay for our girl, Copper to lay. However, I do not know if she is done. The eggs were not there this morning when I left for work. I can see about three fairly good sized, plump eggs without disturbing the substrate too much. I suspect more are adjacent to these three. However, Copper is still coiled around her eggs at the bottom of the lay box. How long should I give her to finish laying before disturbing her to move the eggs to the incubator? Should I offer her food at this point to possibly lure her out on her own? Thanks.

Leave her alone for at least 12 hours and check for more eggs then. As long as she's laying in a humid hide and it's not at the warm end, the eggs will be fine.

Don't offer food until you're sure she's finished.

OK, I looked a little closer this morning and found a few more eggs. Mom seemed a bit agitated when I was looking so I think I'll give her until this evening. I believe she is done, but she appears to be trying to incubate the eggs herself. She has been coiled around them since I saw the first ones yesterday. If she is still coiled around them this evening should I just remove her so I can get them moved to the incubator? BTW, they are all in humid substrate...in fact she burrowed to the bottom of the substrate and laid them. So I can not even really see them from the top. She did a marvelous job of hiding her eggs from the predators!

She will act a little protective for a while but I don't think you should worry about that. I would gently pick her up trying to not disturb the eggs any more than you have to. If you hold her up and let the tail half of her dangle, you will be able to see if she is still holding eggs.

Remove the eggs and get them into your incubator where the temp and humidity are controlled.

Don't worry - she's not protecting or incubating the eggs. She's just resting up and doesn't want to move.

Whenever you take the eggs out, she's going to shove hard against your hand, as she just won't want to be moved about. Be gentle but firm and persist in picking out the eggs in spite of her protests. I've never known one to bite in this situation, no matter how much of a fight they want to put up.

Thanks for the help. No worries about her biting, she has never shown even a hint of agressiveness, not too menttion those itty-bitty teeth aren't going to do much damage. My fat cat does more damage kneading me at night because he still thiks he's a kitten.

I'll go ahead and take care of this first thing after work. BTW, how big a mouse should I offer her for her first meals post laying? Thanks again.

-- Dave

I usually offer a small mouse after laying, just as a "snack", then back to the normal-sized food four or five days later as long as she has no problems with that.