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Substrateless incubation

PythonWallace

PythonWallace

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Does anyone incubate ball python eggs using the water method (substrateless) that is common for GTPs? What are your experiences?

Also, I would just like to say that I closed my money market account and pre-spent my Christmas bonus to get back into breeding. I'm now the excited owner of

1.0 het Albino bred by Tom @ Habitat Systems Limited (for sale)
0.1 het Albino bred by Ian @ Outback Reptiles
1.0 Spider bred by Jamie Quick
0.1 Pastel bred by Jamie Quick
0.3 - '05 normals bred by Jamie Quick & Zach Schrader

with 1.0 Albino to arrive on Tuesday from Chance @ River Valley Reptiles

Wish me luck.
:thumbsup: :D :thumbsup: :D :thumbsup:
 
Nobody here ever used the plastic crate/substraitless method for BPs? No congrats? Thanks alot! J/K
 
Heeey...congrats on your new collection additions :thumbsup: (you might have a problem with posting for sale in the forum section though.That's a :NoNo: )

I have hatched out a few with no substrate....Every one of them are alive today as a matter of fact....i never even tried vermiculite really.

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I used the no substrate method last year. Worked great with the BP eggs. They stayed nicely hydrated and all the eggs hatched. I tried it with corn eggs last year too~ But they dried out for some reason. Only thing I can think is the BP eggs where an incubator with the heat coming from the bottom, the corn eggs had the heat coming from the top. Maybe that made the difference.
 
I think that would be the problem with the heat below vs heat above. If the heat is below, it would heat the base substrate, and keep the eggs warm and hydrated, but from above, the eggs would have the heat on them directly, and not the substrate, drying them out easier. Thats just my thoughts on it...
 
Thanks for the info and pics. That's what I wanted to hear. Don't know if I'll try that method yet, but it's good to see that it's an option. Wolfy, I believe that is perlite under the crate.
 
I've got a homemade cooler incubator going. Pan of water sitting on heat tape. Eggs are sitting on crate looking stuff over pan of water. Corn eggs went bad, most BP eggs look good. (lost 3 of about 35) I'm thinking the Corn eggs went bad due to the temps too high. 100% humidity, 88 degrees.

Still waiting for some hatchings to decide if I will use this method again next year. I used vermiculite last year and lost 1 out of 15 eggs. Poor baby pipped but died in egg. Looked like her umbilical was twisted.
 
geckoguy_ottawa said:
I'm just curious, what is the water to substrate ratio?
Kind regards,
Click to expand...

If you use HatchRite, there's no worry about water to substrate ratio because the water is already mixed in. You just pour it in the container, put the eggs in, put the lid on, and you're good to go.
 
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