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Egg Box Question

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I have a question I hope some of you will have a answer to... My ball python eggs are at 53 days and I still have Glad Press'n Seal over the egg box which keeps the humidity at 98% but someone told me I need to take the press'n seal completely off for the last week of incubation but when I do this the humidity drops way down to 56% inside the egg box even with the normal lid on. Will this low humidity hurt them during the last week? If I just keep the Press'n Seal on will the eggs/babies suffocate?
 
My suggestion would be to simply remove the Press & seal daily to allow air exchange. I use lidded tubs for my eggs. I leave the lids on the entire time, BUT, I remove it occasionally to allow fresh air to the eggs. Near the end, I remove the lid daily or even twice a day. If You`re afraid they will pip when you`re not around, simply put a couple of pin holes in the Press & seal to make sure they have some air. You`ll probably get some better answers, but, that`s what I would do.
Rayna :)
 
Press 'n seal... what's that? :D

I think as long as you let fresh air in every day, it will be fine to the end. They use so much less air than humans.
 
Thanks everyone. I let fresh air in everyday. The lidded tubs haven't kept the humidity up that's why I got the press'n seal over the box then I put the lid on over that.
 
The lidded tubs haven't kept the humidity up that's why I got the press n seal over the box then I put the lid on over that.
Click to expand...
If you were to use locking lid tubs and the substrateless method you wouldn't have this concern.

I'd remove it and allow them to breath.
 
I think people are too hung up on numbers....


I have used Sterilite tubs for incubation for years - more often than not, they're tubs that had snakes in them at one time (so they have ventilation holes). I have never measured humidity in an egg box, or within my incubators. Funny thing is, the eggs hatch (the good ones, anyway)
I've fooled around with a variety of substrates - vermiculite, perlite, sphagnum (long strand), potting soil, peat moss, and combinations of the above. The eggs hatched.
I use vermiculite, rarely mixed with perlite, these days - but that's just personal preference, and not based on results. (peat moss and potting soil are essentially dirt, and are accordingly messy; I usually can't find long strand sphagnum in quantity....and perlite just sticks to everything).

Dave and Tracy Barker said in one of their books that consistency is more important than specific numbers with regard to moisture content and humidity. Eggs can hatch in drier (or wetter) than ideal conditions; but don't decide halfway through incubation to change things.
I know the thought process is to optimize everything....and it probably does improve results in some cases...but I can't bring myself to approach it like a science project.
 
snakesRkewl said:
If you were to use locking lid tubs and the substrateless method you wouldn't have this concern.

I'd remove it and allow them to breath.
Click to expand...

I use the locking lids, although it doesn't form a tight seal, and use the substrateless method. Last I checked, I think the humidity is around 65-70% and the eggs appear to be doing great even though moisture is slowly escaping. Right now, I have a clutch at day 48 and they just started dimpling slightly about a week ago. Even with 1/2" of water and rock at the bottom, I still can't get to 100% :shrug01: I thought I should use a tighter seal but if it everything works fine this time around I might maintain the status quo.
 
snakesRkewl said:
If you were to use locking lid tubs and the substrateless method you wouldn't have this concern.

I'd remove it and allow them to breath.
Click to expand...

I am using the substrateless method and have lots of water in the bottom. The incubator is a Avery and the tub is a sterlite 6 quart with snap on lid but without the press'n seal in doesn't hold in enough humidity for some strange reason.
 
You wouldn't happen to have a fan in the incubator, would you? I found that if I angled my fan so that the air was blowing against the tubs, the air making its way up under the lids caused humidity to drop. Once I deflected it off the side of the incubator, everything was fine.
 
hhmoore said:
I think people are too hung up on numbers....


I have used Sterilite tubs for incubation for years - more often than not, they're tubs that had snakes in them at one time (so they have ventilation holes). I have never measured humidity in an egg box, or within my incubators. Funny thing is, the eggs hatch (the good ones, anyway)
I've fooled around with a variety of substrates - vermiculite, perlite, sphagnum (long strand), potting soil, peat moss, and combinations of the above. The eggs hatched.
I use vermiculite, rarely mixed with perlite, these days - but that's just personal preference, and not based on results. (peat moss and potting soil are essentially dirt, and are accordingly messy; I usually can't find long strand sphagnum in quantity....and perlite just sticks to everything).

Dave and Tracy Barker said in one of their books that consistency is more important than specific numbers with regard to moisture content and humidity. Eggs can hatch in drier (or wetter) than ideal conditions; but don't decide halfway through incubation to change things.
I know the thought process is to optimize everything....and it probably does improve results in some cases...but I can't bring myself to approach it like a science project.
Click to expand...

I think consistency is also very important (of course this is my first clutch so what do I know LOL) that's why I'm afraid to take the press'n seal off since that will cause the humidity to drop very much. I just pray they are getting enough oxygen in the tub. I think I've gained 100 new gray hairs in the last 53 days, LOL.
 
Shadera said:
You wouldn't happen to have a fan in the incubator, would you? I found that if I angled my fan so that the air was blowing against the tubs, the air making its way up under the lids caused humidity to drop. Once I deflected it off the side of the incubator, everything was fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah it has a fan but it's built in so I can't move it. :( It keeps temps great but I'm not sure if I would recommend a Avery incubator because it's not sealed up very good so even if you keep a pan of water in there it doesn't hold humidity.
 
I agree with HH 100% way to much put into exact #s eggs have been hatching in the wild in every condition imaginable since the beginning of time. I ran short a agg box this year and hatched 5 happy healthy baby balls in a tupperware dish covered in plastic wrap never even looked at the humidity. I could see condensation in the container and had the median right to start!!

They actually hatched 3 days early and 1 baby was cutting its way out of the plastic and about half out into the incubator. The last 3 weeks or so I opened the plastic once a week for air flow to the eggs. Like was said though once I started I wasn't going to change them around when a egg box came free kept it consistent.

This is not gospel things happen and most for a reason I also lost a clutch this year as well and thought I had everything perfect. They went full term and on day 56 I cut the eggs to some twitching strange acting babies the next morning most were still and gone and the rest didn't make it through the day.:( The clutch right next to them hatched 5 days later on their own.

Hope this helps and all come out happy and healthy for you best wishes!!
 
6qt pop top sterilites are crap to incubate in, IMO.
If you buy locking lid tubs you won't fight too little humidity you will probably like me need to add a few holes for ventilation.
I add water, perlite, light diffuser panel and then eggs and basically forget they exist for 54-56 days.
 
I also agree with HH, for the most part. Sometimes the numbers can work against you!

Especially this late in incubation, you don't need to worry much about humidity. I've used vermiculite in a Sterilite tub with the eggs sitting directly in the substrate and have had no problems. The first year I used a snap-on lid by itself, and this year I used an ice cream container (not my first choice!) with press 'n' seal, though I removed the press 'n' seal after day 50 or so. I incubated a friend's eggs in a six-quart Sterilite tub with vermiculite and a light diffuser for the eggs to sit on, and they hatched just fine (never got too dry, either--one can put more moisture in the substrate if the eggs aren't sitting in it).

You don't need to measure the humidity, really. The eggs themselves will tell you. If it's too dry, they'll start to dimple early. (Both of my clutches have done this because I err on the side of too dry with my vermiculite.) But you slowly add moisture to the vermiculite or put them in a new batch of slightly-wetter vermiculite (I've done both) until the eggs start filling out again. It's a little more difficult to tell if it's too wet, though mold anywhere in the container and/or condensation on the eggs is probably a good sign.

In your case, I'd just remove the press 'n' seal but keep the lid on. They'll be fine. Plus, you don't have to worry about their running out of air! :)
 
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