Incubation substrate question

Has anyone tried using Cypress mulch to incubate? If it has the mold blocking powers everyone says it does, it would work well...one would think.

I use water, perlite, light diffuser, tub with ventilation holes and haven't had any issues with mold since doing this method.
I don't see where cypress will help with anything, it won't stop mild growth on the eggs if you have to high of humidity, it's mold blocking powers are limited to itself.

I use vermiculate. I was just curious if anyone had tried.

Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I use water, perlite, light diffuser, tub with ventilation holes and haven't had any issues with mold since doing this method.
I don't see where cypress will help with anything, it won't stop mild growth on the eggs if you have to high of humidity, it's mold blocking powers are limited to itself.

Does perlite work better than vermiculite? Is the stuff from Home Depot good? Do you do a 1:1 mix ratio by weight? I'm assuming you dig in the light diffuser into the substrate. Thanks!

perlite will work but need to keep up on oisture level if it gets to dry will actually draw moisture from your eggs. thats why i stay with vermiculite also

I will be using the no substrate method for my GTP eggs. Would that work for BP eggs or is it too much humidity?

Originally Posted by punz67

Does perlite work better than vermiculite? Is the stuff from Home Depot good? Do you do a 1:1 mix ratio by weight? I'm assuming you dig in the light diffuser into the substrate. Thanks!

You can use either. I do things pretty much the same as Jerry does, and mix it pretty darn soupy. The egg crate goes on top, and I do not dig it down in there. It sinks in a little, but not all the way to the bottom. Make sure the water level isn't high enough to splash your eggs and you're good.

As far as humidity goes, it's probably never too high for ball python eggs. As long as they aren't sitting directly in water, they usually do just fine. I typically prop a wood shim under one corner of my egg tubs to get any condensation to roll to the back of the tub where it doesn't have a chance of dripping on eggs.

Regarding cypress, no I haven't tried it. What I've been using ain't broke. I'm betting one of the maternal incubation folks has incubated on cypress, so hopefully they'll chime in here.

I use a substrate less method. I like it because the eggs get the exact same heat and humidity on all sides. When the snakes come out they are not pushing substrate into the eggs that still have snakes in them. If you want to candle or cut you can easily remove the egg. It works very well for us.

Perilite imo is WAY better than vermiculite, It's made to hold water, that's it's sole mission in life and it does it better than anything I know of.
I don't mix the perlite and water at all, I add the perlite, add 2 pieces of light diffuser, fill bottled water until it hits the bottom piece of diffuser and that's it.
There is no need to add water later, I think I've added water to 2 tubs in the last 2 seasons.
Cypress might work fine, I've seen people use newspaper, marbles, rocks, ceramic beads, etc.

Originally Posted by Randy F

I use a substrate less method. I like it because the eggs get the exact same heat and humidity on all sides. When the snakes come out they are not pushing substrate into the eggs that still have snakes in them. If you want to candle or cut you can easily remove the egg. It works very well for us.

Nice! I'm assuming you are getting the same success with this method. I think I will try it with my first BP clutch.