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Would it be too later to use an incubator?

snakemama89

snakemama89

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My 3 1/2 - 4 foot female "Big Baby aka BB" laid a clutch of 5 eggs at some point between Sunday night and Monday afternoon. Not exactly sure when she laid them. So far I have let her take care of her eggs. I was wondering if it is too late to use an incubator since it has been about 3 days since she laid them? If not, what is the best yet cheapest way to go incubator wise? I've only had BB and her partner since late April and the pet store that I got them from did not know that BB was pregnant at the time. They also told us that both snakes were males.
 
I've left eggs with the mother for longer than that before putting them in the incubator...I don't believe there is a "too late" as long as proper conditions are maintained.
As far as incubator options, "best" and "cheapest" are rarely options that go together; because the cheap options aren't very good, and the good options aren't exactly cheap.

IMO, you're best off making your own. You'll need a good thermostat, ideally a proportional model - but you can get by with on/off. I haven't purchased one in a while, so forgive cost inaccuracies; but you're looking at about $125 for a proportional, and around $80 for a good on/off. If you want to go CHEAP, you can do it with a bucket of water and a submersible heater. Cheaper still - cheapest and best, if you will - is to simply leave the eggs with mom.

Some may balk at this response; but you are under no obligation to incubate those eggs. You are 2 months into your ball python experience...I don't know anything about your experience level or knowledge base; so I'll simply ask if you are prepared to care for 5 more ball pythons for an indefinite period of time. That includes housing them, and having a reliable source of appropriately sized rodents (you'll need live, and sizes not consistently offered by most pet shops - so you'll likely have to breed your own, or locate a rodent breeder).
 
Its not to late to put them in an incubator. I would get a reptibator they are one of the cheaper models and work pretty well, also get a digital thermometer to put inside the eggbox for the exact temperature. I would also candle the eggs to make sure they are viable. One more thing ball pythons shouldn't be housed together. Goodluck
 
We have only acquired our ball pythons recently in April. These are our first snakes. We have the two that we think are normals and then we have a pastel that is about 6 months old. The male we know for sure is a male because we got him from PetSmart. The other two we got from a private exotic shop owner. We also get our mice through the exotic owner because he sells feeder mice. We are going to be breeding mice to supply for the babies. I will get pictures of the two that we are unsure of because they are still together. We are in the process of buying an extra tank or two for when the babies hatch. I was told I could house the babies all in the same tank? The anticipated hatch date is 8/23/2014. That is 60 days from the day that I found them (Monday).
 
ApReptiles said:
Its not to late to put them in an incubator. I would get a reptibator they are one of the cheaper models and work pretty well, also get a digital thermometer to put inside the eggbox for the exact temperature. I would also candle the eggs to make sure they are viable. One more thing ball pythons shouldn't be housed together. Goodluck
Click to expand...

I was told by the local snake expert at the local Zoo to leave them together as it could cause BB to get stressed out and abandon her eggs since they were housed together since before we got them.
 
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This is BB on her eggs. We had to remove her hide log so that we could try to feed her.
 
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For the eggs, you will need to keep them hydrated, and that is a little difficult to do in a tank. So I would recommend spraying the tank at least once daily to maintain higher humidity. An incubator is recommended but the female looks like she will be able to take care of the eggs.
The next step you should look at is housing all the babies once they are born, I would highly recommend finding a baby rack to keep them in when they are born. That way they can be separated.
Then work on separating the two that are together now, that should also be on the list, but IMO not top priority.
 
The eggs caught us off gaurd because when we purchased mama snake we were told she was a he... i do not plan on going through the guy again for anymore snakes. we couldn't figure out why BB was refusing mice and rats for 2 months.
 
Personally, I would not want another snake in with an incubating female. Regardless of what your local expert may have told you, ball pythons are not social animals. Had she been able to lay her eggs in a secluded spot, away from the other one, she would have done so.
CAN you house two BPs together? Of course....but people will recommend against it, and for a number of good reasons. Can you keep all 5 babies in one tank? Same answer, with largely the same reasons...except you are more likely to experience issues with the babies.

Candling the eggs (shining a light into them, to check for veins) was mentioned earlier - I will recommend against, until you are committed (and ready) to put the eggs in an incubator. The more times you disturb Mom or the eggs, the greater the likelihood that she will abandon them. That isn't an issue when you're transferring them into a ready incubator; but it is when you don't even have an incubator. (Some are better mothers than others, and will keep returning to their eggs; others will bail the first time they are lifted off them).

Reptibator - I had forgotten about this one. I have no experience with it; but will say that it looks to be somewhat better than other entry level options. Typically, with incubators of that type, fairly consistent room temperatures are required...I would expect that with the upgraded thermostat, this will be more tolerant of daily temperature variation; but the company's own recommendation is that it be placed in a cooler room with consistent temperatures - which can be difficult for many to achieve in mid summer. If the eggs are adhered in a pile, you may find that the top eggs are closer to the heating element than you want. I'm not trying to dissuade you, btw - just making you aware of potential issues.

If you decide to let her continue incubating, you'll want to create a micro-environment for BB and eggs. As was mentioned, maintaining acceptable humidity levels in a tank can be problematic in general...but it's a must with eggs. If they get too dry, the babies could die early or simply fail to hatch.
 
How do I create a micro-environment? All of this is still really new to me. I feel like I am getting overwhelmed with everything and I know that this is going to be a big expense on my end for taking care of the babies if and when they hatch. I have been doing the best I can to make sure the tank stays humid. I read on a breeders site that humidity needs to be any where from 90-100%? But on another site it said 70-80%. I do not know which one to go with so I try to keep it 85-90%. Any tips on humidity will help
 
Well with maternal incubation I wouldnt let the cage get to 100% humidity, due to the female being in the cage. I think 70-80 sounds better but really haven't allowed my girls to be maternal mommies. May I ask what substrate the girl and eggs are on? If it's a particle or shredded substrate such as aspen or mulch I would highly recommend against raising the humidity to high as the substrate can get dirty with bacteria etc and cause health problems with the female. If you haven't messed with the female to much this far and haven't stressed her that much, I would recommend slidding a thick plastic or paper under her to slider her and the eggs out and keep her in a rubber maid tub with holes drilled. Alot easier to keep humidity as well as if she is on shredded substrate, you can put her on something else. Hope this helps
 
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