Help incabate my corns?

[snakes4ever]

My family has had cornsnakes for as far back as I can recall. One day they got the idea to get our common corn snake a friend. That friend turned into a girl snake and one day when they went to take out the blanket they give to the snakes to hid in. They found eggs. Out of 12 eggs 4 hatched. They bought a havabater(small Styrofoam incubator) and vermiculite.

Since then they kept one baby and over the years that baby boy grew up. Since then they got him a girl snake and again it bread. This time I took care of them and out of 8 eggs only 2 hatched and the rest got over run with a fungus or something. And one of the baby's died because it did not want to eat and was not taking force feeding.

Now the reason there current snakes only had 8 eggs is because from what I was told be a pet store owner. It was because she was to young/skinny or it was something about a first clutch Styrofoam.

When we thought she may be breeding again I made her a container with Spagem moss in a Rubbermaid container. And as of right now I have not checked on her for about 3 days and today I found 19 eggs. They are all firm and round. I was told be a local reptile store that they use Purl-lite instead of vermiculite. I put it into a rubber made container and poured water in it and mixed it up real good and crushed up the Purl-lite. I made sure it was all moist and there was no water puddles on the bottom. I took out all 19 eggs and made a small indention with my finger and placed each egg onto the pirllite. I put the container into the havabater and as of right now I am checking it every hour to make sure I keep the temperature at around 80 degrees.

Can you help me make sure I do not over water it and don't kill 19 eggs???? I love the snakes so much I hate the idea that it is me doing the killing. I read somewhere that you can put a moist paper towel over the eggs to help with the humidity, but I also read not to get the eggs wet. A friend told me that I could put a bowl of water next to the container in the incubator to help with the humidity.

HELP GUIDE ME PLEASE! ? :]

 

[Mary-Beth]

Can someone help this person please? I found this on the next page back

 

[dionythicus]

I used Perlite in a rubbermaid container inside the same incubator as you have. I made sure there was 1/2 inch of water at the bottom to start with, below the level of the eggs so it didn't touch them, and only had to add any water once or twice during the entire incubation. The Perlite retains moisture so well that adding water almost isn't necessary after you dampen it to begin with. The paper towel trick is to lay a dry paper towel over the eggs and check it for wetness. If it becomes wet, there's too much moisture. Open the container and let it air out for a few hours (if the temps hold up). At least that's what I've read. I did not have that issue. I hope someone who has had that happen will also respond.