ball python breeding n' stuff

[abi21491]

You'll be much much MUCH better off to take abi's previous advice, go down to your local grocery store and get a styrofoam cooler, line one side with 11" flexwatt (so far we're what? 10-15 bucks in?) and plug it into a thermostat with the probe inside the cooler. Get a small shoebox sized sterilite tub. moisten some vermiculite and then squeeze the water out of it, fill the tub about half full with the now slightly damn vermiculite. set the thermostat to 90 and you have a cheap home made incubator that works better than 90% of the stuff you can buy.

Thanks Donnie. The cooler will cost less than a few dollars, while the flexwatt ranges but shouldn't be more than $8 for 2 ft. A cord will cost anywhere from $3-7 but if you have one laying around that's free. You can get a cheap but reliable thermostat from most pet stores, I've used this one with success. It is an ESU or A-Life. The 1 outlet version is like $30 and the 3 outlet about $50. I hatched a clutch of ball eggs with a 100% hatch rate with one of these.

If you can't find vermiculite, sphagnum moss also works well. I used it and it worked great for ball eggs. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Styrofoam cooler, found at most Wal-Marts.

2 ft of 11" Flexwatt. You can find this at reptilebasics.com for $3.40 a foot.

Extension cord - $3-8 at Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc.

Here is how I rig my flexwatt up (this is a piece of 4"):

These are the clips I used. You can order your flexwatt pre-wired from reptilebasics if you want. I found these at Lowes:

The thermostat I used. I bought the $50 model. You can find them on thebeanfarm.com if your pet store doesn't sell them.

My snakes hatching on sphagnum. As you can see the eggs look great. One did get discolored from the moss but that was it.

[coitussnakes]

I DONT WANT A INCUBATOR ! beileve me ive seen all the you tube videos ive seen all the websites ive reasearched EVERYTHING about ball pythons and INCUBATION/BREEDING.     ive heard all this buy the books stuff over and over again. i want todo it maternaly so i can study it and learn and gain valuble knowledge from it. i just wanted opinions not instructions on making a incubator. sorry for the harshness.but i want to do it my way.

[Donnie_K]

frankly coitus... if you already know so much about what you're doing... why did you ask?

[Southern_Boa_Gurl]

I think it's valuable to learn as much as you can even if that's asking questions on forums about what other's views are, but in the end, if you ask a question, you should also expect to get answers with instructions on how to make an incubator if that's what the poster thinks should be done.

Don't take this as being harsh, just being honest

[Donnie_K]

I dunno, I  mean you came in here, and asked what we think about it. Given your situation we responded with what we thought about it, and what we felt was a better alternative. If you had already made up your mind that you ARE going to try maternal incubation, why didn't you just ask what would be the best way to allow her to maternally incubate instead of telling us it was because of funds? it's actually going to be more expensive to get her set up properly for maternal incubation than building an incubator would be. Just an FYI.

[coitussnakes]

Ya i suppose i worded my topic poorly. and im already and prepaired for maternal incubation.i wouldnt have went into it,not being prepaired.

[abi21491]

We are just looking out for the eggs/snakes best interest. You asked and you got our opinions and answers. We have incubators these days because they are the best and most accurate way to insure your clutch's success. If maternal incubation was that easy and effective more people would do it that way. Being a beginner breeder, it just makes more sense (in my mind) to do it the easy way and then maybe down the line when you have more experience and possibly a better understanding of things to experiment. This is my opinion, but I'm entitled to share it

[SnakeGirl]

To be quite frank, you're most likely going to have better success at artificial incubation, especially if you've got no previous experience hatching eggs.  Maternal incubation is quite difficult.  My advice would be do this the other way around.  Master incubation first, attempt the harder maternal incubation when you understand what the eggs need a little better.  I too tried maternal incubation the first time, and I failed miserably.  I had four eggs and no hatchlings.  If you truly want to do this as a learning experience, you'll learn much more if they actually hatch.

It's quite possible that your female has already ovulated, but 99% of the time, females ovulate in the spring.  Again, that's not always, as Bree here had a very late in the year clutch herself, but typically you should look for ovulations in the spring.  If your female ovulated, and you were looking for it, you can't miss it.  Not to be harsh, but if you wanted to breed your snakes for the learning experience, you really should have tried to learn something about breeding before you attempted to do so.  There are several websites that have a breeding page (myself included) where you can get all of the information on what to look for . . . or look for a "reputable" breeders page.  Don't always go by youtube videos; some know what they're talking about and some don't.  I myself researched on The Snake Keeper's website before I attempted, and there was still a learning curve between reading what to do and actually doing it correctly.

[illbeyoursoldier]

I know someone who attempted Maternal Incubation, for the learning experience. Not all of the eggs made it.

Here are some links I found, however:

Paper by Jay Martin:
http://www.jaymartinreptiles.com/articles/maternal.pdf

Good info on Maternal Incubation if you scroll down:
http://www.just---balls.com/eggincubation.htm

Ball Boutique:
"Very simple to do. I keep the thermostat at 76 degrees and humidity range 68% to 75%  As summer comes the temperature goes up in the room automatically and goes down in the winter. My humidity is regulated by humidifier. In the summer there is no need for it. I get enough humidity without using one. I use Freedom Breeders rack system. I keep my heat tape @ 89 degrees year round. If a female lays egg off tape I push her and the eggs and mom to the heat tape. I also have a fan turned on 24/7 in back of the humidifier."

And I know you don't want to hear about books, but I am pretty sure VPI wrote some decent stuff on Maternal Incubation in "Pythons of the World: Volume 2," if I remember correctly.

Hope this helps!!