hacthling care

[DirtySanchez]

I was wondering how long will it take my eggs to incubate and hatch. The incubator i built is a 10 gallon aquarium with the aquarum heater set around 80 degrees. Also I was wondering the best way to take care of the hatchlings? Can they go in with the parents, can i put them in a 10 gallon aquarium? I would like to hear any ideas I am kinda new to the how breeding, hatchlings. Thanks for your input

[CornsnakeKeeper]

The eggs should incubate for approx. 62 days but it can take longer or they could hatch sooner depending on temp. changes.

It is reccommended that they are each kept in deli cups seperately with water as they may try to eat each other before they learn that they are supposed to eat mice.

You could keep them together. Just monitor them closely and feed seperately, but don't keep them together for too long.

Monitor the temps. in your incubator very well. Those aren't the safest kind of incubators to use.

[Jr Nimeskern]

Next year is when Im going to start breeding my corns... what kind of incubator should I use? and any little tid bits of hints that could help me would be helpful... thanks

[Katie]

I've heard that there is an incubator called a Hoovabator or somthing like that. It's apparently pretty good for small ammounts of eggs (one or two clutches). If you have many many eggs, you'll have to look into building something yourself I think. I've seen 2 home made incubators out of bar fridges and they worked great. A really huge amount of eggs would necessitate a large fridge though. I'm sure there are large incubators commercially available somewhere but it would still probably be cheaper to build one.

[Tim Madsen]

I don't use an incubator for colubrid eggs. I just put them in a plastic box, in moist Vermiculite and put the box in a warm location. I keep one room in my house at about 82 degrees for raising young snakes and incubating eggs. If you don't have a snake room a good location is on top of the refrigerator, it's usually warm there. John Cherry of Cherryville Farms once lost a whole years production to a malfunctioning incubator. That convinced me to quite using them. If you are going to use one I'd make sure it has a backup shutdown thermostat.

[Jayde]

I just when cheap and simple. I bought a small wooden second hand viv with a sensor and thermostat for £25 and I made an inubator by getting a tuperware tub, half filling it with damp vermiculite and put the eggs in, and half buried them. Then I drilled holes in the tupperware lid got a damp paper towel and laid it across the eggs to keep in the temporature and help the humidity. Then I placed the sensor under the lid so the sensor can indicate how warm it was inside the tub. And you can set the temp at 79-83F for approx 60-75 days.

And remember not to turn the eggs in any way, from the position they were hatched, if you do you could drown the snake. So be careful you don't find a Bird's incubater that rotates eggs. You'll have to keep the environment damp and humid. There was an expensive incubater for reptiles that done the temp and humidity for you. But I forget where I see it...

[Kel]

Like Jayde, I built my own. Base is a large breadboard for stability. Over that, a layer of aluminium foil to reflect any escaping heat back up. On top of the foil, a double layer of cork floor tiles for insulation, then a heat mat on top of that. Built an 8 inch high collar of cardboard around the heat mat and used duck tape to secure the lot to the breadboard. Half inch layer of vermiculite on top of the heat mat to allow air circulation and prevent overheating. Put the egg containers on top of the vermiculite layer with a thermostat in one and packed vermiculite around the sides of the containers for insulation. Layer of 5 old towels over the top of the incubator for insulation which allows easy access to check eggs. All a bit "Blue Peter" (UK people will understand that one !), but it's rock-steady at 82 degrees, 80-90 percent humidity and can be taken apart and the componants re-used/thrown away at the end of the season.

Cheers
Kel

[CornCrazy]

Hey Kel! I sure would like to see a picture of your homemade incubator! I may have eggs soon, and I'm trying to decide wheter to buy or make my incubator. I prefer to go the cheap way seeing as how I wasn't expecting to have any eggs this year so I am unprepared to purchase an incubator that is going to be costly. Thanks, and I look forwar to seeing your creation!

Terri

[DirtySanchez]

One more thing, what size deli cups should i use and for how long should i keep them in the cups? Where can i get water dishes to fit in these deli cups?

[Alicia]

If you check out the thread "Deli Cups" in this section Rich Z has pics of his deli cups and water dishes he makes and sells for them.
I bought some from him and they work out great. The deli cups he uses are the 8 oz size.

:) Alicia