• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Do you use a nest box?

Do you use a nest/lay box for your BPs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 21.1%

  • No

    Votes: 15 78.9%
  • Total voters
    19
HyderHouseHerps

HyderHouseHerps

New member
Joined
Dec 31, 2008
Messages
245
Reaction score
11
Points
0
Location
Hernando, MS
I'm curious as to how many people aren't using nest boxes (egg laying boxes) for their gravid BP's. And just curious what your opinions are on whether they are absolutely necessary or do your girls just seem more comfortable in them?
 
you're supposed to vote! thanks for the input. I read on a website that it was "crucial" to provide a nest box, wondered how many people agree with this statement
 
I've only had one female lay ever, and at first I didn't provide a lay box. After ~30 days or so after her pre-lay shed, I gave her a lay box, but she didn't seem terribly happy in it. She eventually laid her eggs outside the lay box. *shrug*

Not sure if I'll use lay boxes for future gravid females or not.
 
I checked that we do use a lay box, but we really just pile a bunch of sphagnum moss in her bin and let her make her own nest. All my big girls love it!
 
sinisterserpents1 said:
I checked that we do use a lay box, but we really just pile a bunch of sphagnum moss in her bin and let her make her own nest. All my big girls love it!
Click to expand...

That's what we do! Never tried an actual "lay box" with our ball pythons, but anytime we tried to give one of our boas one, they would give birth behind it/in front of it/underneath it/etc...just never IN it!
 
I've only had 2 clutches thus far. No one ever mentioned using a nest box to me when I started. Everything's went great so far so I see no reason to try using one.
 
I do use lay boxes myself because for me it's easier to get the eggs and mom out of the cage so I can sit it somewhere more convenient for pulling Mom off of them. I use stackable cages, not racks, so working in a 12 inch high space can be difficult when the mom has a very firm grip on her eggies. LOL

When I first began breeding, I just used a tray filled with damp moss, and the females never laid their eggs in it. Sometimes under it, sometimes beside it, but never in it. Then I devised a covered one, and so far my females use them and lay their eggs in them (haven't had one yet that has refused her covered box). I used two small cat litter pans (since finding a nest box for ball pythons can be a chore--most commercial ones are either too little or too big), cut a doorway in one, turned it upside-down over the other, made some holes in the lip of the tub, and tied the two together to secure them. And it's easy to untie, so you can check on Mom, or remove Mom. ;)
CatLitterPanandMoss.jpg


HolesandString.jpg


TieinaBow.jpg


NestBoxReady.jpg


ProudMomma2009.jpg


PileoPearlyWhites.jpg
 
I have never used a Lay box or anything of the sort, I honestly never put much thought into using one either.
 
russianbaby007 said:
That's a really neat idea!
Click to expand...

tinmantribe5 said:
I really like that Idea Pamela,You did a real simple but way cool Lay box I loved it!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I agree, it is simple, and it isn't fancy, but it seems to get the job done. LOL And it's very inexpensive, as those small cat litter pans are only about $2.00 each. The females really seem to like them, and apparently didn't like my open trays because they didn't feel secure enough for egg-laying. I've got a gavid female now that has made a nest for herself in one of them (and it's funny because she rarely leaves it), but I'm still waiting on eggs. ;)
 
I love your nest box! I've been throwing around ideas for one just so my snakes can feel more secure when laying but I have them in a rack so it would have to be a small one.
 
Thanks much!

These are kinda tall though, for a rack. You might try getting some sort of flat plastic storage box with a lid . . . you might be able to cut a doorway into something like that, snap the lid on, and use it as a nest box in your racks. ;) Best of luck, and let us know if you do. I'd love to see it myself. :)
 
SnakeGirl3 said:
These are kinda tall though, for a rack. You might try getting some sort of flat plastic storage box with a lid . . . you might be able to cut a doorway into something like that, snap the lid on, and use it as a nest box in your racks. ;) Best of luck, and let us know if you do. I'd love to see it myself. :)
Click to expand...

That's actually what I attempted this year. The problem I had was that I sat it on the heat, and if the female didn't like the lay box, there wasn't any more room above the heat. So I moved the lay box a little away from the heat and left the heat spot open; she took the heat spot and ignored the box. :p
 
I said no but had one that I was waiting on to lay, I put a box around the spot she was at and that later that day she layed. Could just be great luck.
 
Back
Top