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HELP PLEASE!

outfishin7

outfishin7

New member
OK, There's big drama going on right now and I need help. I love the snakes but it's kind of my wife's project, and now that she's not here (Just left today as a matter of fact) one of the girls has started laying eggs! She's been waiting for this but she's not here now and I can't really contact her too much to get this incubator set up. I have some heat mats, the smallest being for a 20 gal tank I have a styrofoam cooler that she was going to use, we have sphagum moss that she was going to use as substrate and now how do I throw all of this together to make something so the eggs will be ok?

Here's what she said, heat mat on the bottom of the cooler bakers rack above that and a sandwich box style plastic container with a lid. Fill the box about a third of the way with moist moss and set the eggs inside? Where does the humidity come from, the moss I suspect but I'm not sure? What am I missing and is the heat mat going to get hot enough to melt the styrofoam? While right now some of you may be saying "should have been ready" please understand that my mother passed away and the reason she's not here is she's staying with my father, this is also the reason not prepared. Please be kind in your replies and if you can't I only ask that you keep it to yourself. Thank you
 
Oh by the way the biggest heat mat I have is for a 50-60 gal tank if that helps but I think it might cook the poor things.
 
First off, don't use the heat mat. Eggs are REALLY sensitive to too high temps but will tolerate less than optimum for a while. Better a bit too cool than even a short time too hot.
The concept is to keep the humidity up without getting the eggs wet. Don't let any free moisture contact the eggs.
I use hatchrite so I don't know exactly what your wife had in mind on setting up the green moss.
Perhaps someone else that uses this can give their procedure, but absent that, mist the green moss with bottled water, let it soak in and then pat dry in paper towel. Put a small pencil X on the top of any loose egg (not attached to the clump) to mark orientation because my bet is that those eggs will need to be moved later, and they need to stay in that same position. Put a piece of clean paper towel between the top of the moss and the lid, to intercept any drips. Keep the lid closed and keep checking the moss every couple days to make sure it doesn't dry out. Put in a warm place, like on top the fridge.
Yes, the moss will provide the humidity. That ought to hold for a while until she gets home and sets it up properly.
 
Good luck with this. I think you were given excellent advice. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's impressed with what you are doing and your eagerness to make sure those eggies are okay. Good for you.
If you have any more question or concerns, please ask them. There are many people around here with tons of knowledge who are willing to help, I'm sure.
 
Poor you - a drama on top of a crisis! That's rotten. Hope we can help.

You need to control any heat source in an incubator - a UTH is fine (those are what I have in mine) but ONLY if attached to a thermostat.

Put the stat sensor in the container where the eggs will go, run the setup for at least three hours before adding the eggs, turning the heat up/down until you get into the low 80s.

90 degrees seems to be the danger zone. If you hit that for any length of time or go above it, there's a risk of killing the embryos, or if they hatch, deformed hatchlings. An unregulated UTH will get well over 100 degrees very fast.

Eggs can survive at around the 75 degree mark - maybe lower - but I've never pushed the lower range so perhaps someone else can advise. Plenty of people in warmer parts of the States incubate at room temp but I'm in the chillier UK! I incubate at 80-85 degrees and see hatching around Day 65.

Good luck - I hope everything goes OK for you. Keep us posted.
 
Thank you

Thank you for your help. I think that I got it, altho the moss isn't green so much. At any rate, misted the moss, moist not wet, got her out of the box, first time she's struck at me (good mommy) lost a couple of the eggs while moving the cluster to the box they fell, and there were a couple that looks like they'd been rolled by her at some point, (dirty on the top clean on the bottom) put a papertowel over the container and then snapped the lid over that. There are 2 little air holes that I made with a thumb tack based on something that she'd printed up "2 tiny pinholes for air exchange" and now they're on the top shelf in the cupboard. 13 total and if the eggs I think she rolled won't hatch there should be 10 good eggs. I sure hope I did this right. Now the other female looks like she might be getting ready to lay her eggs too.
 
outfishin7 said:
Is she going to shed now? Her eyes are blue like when she shed last time?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much a guaranteed sign that she's going to shed.
You did really good!! I can't believe that you almost got bitten through all your dilligence. I had my first mating and clutch a couple weeks ago, and was worried about the same thing. Big baby me wore leather gloves. You did better than me. Good, good work. I'm sure your wife will be very proud.
 
You've been given good advice under the circumstances. And you've done a good job, given your lack of knowledge, which is completely understandable.

The only thing I will add is...Best of Luck to you in both the adventure of the eggs, and the crisis of the family situation.

Now...crack open a cold beer...you deserve one! :cheers:
 
tyflier said:
You've been given good advice under the circumstances. And you've done a good job, given your lack of knowledge, which is completely understandable.

The only thing I will add is...Best of Luck to you in both the adventure of the eggs, and the crisis of the family situation.

Now...crack open a cold beer...you deserve one! :cheers:
Click to expand...

Agreed!! Now go have that beer.
 
Thanks all for the advise and encouragement. Now that I'm off work and yes, having that beer you mentioned, there's less stress. Going to look up and build a proper incubator box for them and as long as I haven't ruined them already, maybe some of the eggs will hatch. Maybe I'll send each of you one for all your help? :) I'm really curious about what color they'll be it's from our normal and anery mot, can't wait to see!
 
OK mommy's doing good, just ate. (Mental note, if you pull too hard when you kill a mouse the head will come off, oops) Going to Mcgiver a box when I get home tomorrow nite, the other expecting mommy is going to see her mommy today! Hooray! As for the hets, normal het for ummmm yeah, how bout just pretty colors, kinda like shiney objects but better.
 
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