# Snake eggs dried up



## bizzidy (5 mo ago)

Hi everyone, thanks for the add. This is my first post. I’m writing it because my sons and have had a catastrophic fail with our first clutch of ball python eggs.

Our story goes like this. We got into ball pythons in 2017. My two boys each got a snake for Christmas and they were male and female. Well we researched internet, books and reptile shops about how to breed the snakes. We quickly realized that breeding their snakes wouldn’t make for very attractive offspring.

well i thought, why not buy a couple other snakes off Morph Market to eventually breed with these snakes. So I did.

Just this past July one of our pairs had a successful clutch of 4 eggs. Initially we didn’t recognize that the eggs were in the snakes tub so we think we were about 5 days late in getting them out and into an incubator.
I noticed that the eggs weren’t full and round from the beginning. They were really dimpled and I figured it was because we didn’t get them into the very humid incubator soon enough. I kept the incubator at 90* F and the humidity at 90-96% but the eggs got harder and harder. They were supposed to hatch in the next week but I could tell they were not looking great and were really hard.

so today i cut them open and looked inside The one egg in the center of the others was in the best shape. It was mostly white and had a small amount of flexibility in the shell. This is what came out. It was well formed and nearly made it to full size but it seems it ran out of fluid inside before it became mature. The other eggs had much less formed snakes Babies in them.

it seems the case was that the eggs dries out. Was it because they say the first week in the tub with their mother and dried out? They tubs humidity was very low. Probably first mistake. Once in the incubator the climate was favorable I think. I’m using the Hovabator and the other thought is that the heating element was too close to the eggs and cooked them a bit.

does anyone here have some wisdom they can impart? We are hoping to breed the other pair this year.


----------



## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

What incubation substrate did you use? Do you have an image of how the eggs were set up?


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

My guess is that it was the method and humidity the eggs were incubated at is the cause rather then the fact you didn't catch the eggs for the first 5 days. As per the post above, provide us with details on how the eggs were incubated, the medium used and how you recorded the temperatures and humidity.


----------



## bizzidy (5 mo ago)

Ok. Here is how it was set up. I filled the bottom of the Hovabator with perlite. I added about 500ml water to the perlite. I placed a plastic tray with perforations in it over the perlite. It’s a tray that comes with the Hivabator. It’s like a plastic mesh. This meant that the egged were suspended above the media by about 3mm. For the first month the humidity was kept at around 90%. But after that i increased the water so that condensation appeared on the lid of the Hovabator and the humidity stayed around 96%.


----------



## bizzidy (5 mo ago)

Here’s a picture.


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

Too dry.
I have only ever incubated eggs using vermiculite, with the eggs placed in the incubating medium.


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

No use of an egg box then... That's the problem, your set up is too dry. I don't place my eggs in the media (pearlight / vermiculite). I take a small plastic container that can house all the eggs without them touching each other or the sides or top of the container. I place enough vermiculate to provide a layer 1/3 the height of the tub. I then make it very wet, almost to the point of saturation. Then a section of plastic egg crate (lighting defuser) is placed on top of the vermiculite and the eggs placed on top of the plastic egg crate. Only two holes exist in the plastic container, with a third made to allow the probe from the digital thermometer to enter and placed in the middle of the clutch of eggs. 

This box is then placed on an open shelf (basically wooden dowel in a frame that is in the middle of the incubator. Below the egg box I have a shallow plastic tray with 1" thick foam insert. This is saturated in water until the water reached the top of the foam. Heat is applied from a 75w heating element above the egg box, and a 120cm PC fan is used to circulate the air within the incubator. The thermostat is set so the temperature inside the container with the eggs is stable at 32c (for royal python eggs). The temperature is maintained using a pulse proportional stat. The incubator is checked daily, and water in the tray topped up as needed. This results in the humidity in the egg box at 99% - the max the digital hydrometer can display. This has never failed me in the past two clutches. The only time I lost a clutch exactly as you have described was when I used a different incubator and didn't used sufficient water in the vermiculite and it tried out too much (but would still clump when tested).










The incubator was a DIY design utilizing parts form a second hand Reptibator (which worked equally as well the year previous). A double glazed sliding glass door completed the build


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Image whilst under construction.


----------



## LiasisUK (Sep 30, 2019)

Yes too dry, if using perlite you do not need a tray. Only use a tray with vermiculite. Perlite should be used in a weight ratio of 1:1 with water.


----------



## bizzidy (5 mo ago)

Thanks everyone. What a sad tragedy to spend so much time and effort only to lose the prize at the end. Hopefully we will be more successful the next go around. I have an old wine fridge that doesn’t work anymore. I’m going to try and convert it to an incubator and put the eggs in an egg box like so many do on YouTube. 
cheers


----------



## ian14 (Jan 2, 2008)

bizzidy said:


> Thanks everyone. What a sad tragedy to spend so much time and effort only to lose the prize at the end. Hopefully we will be more successful the next go around. I have an old wine fridge that doesn’t work anymore. I’m going to try and convert it to an incubator and put the eggs in an egg box like so many do on YouTube.
> cheers


The important thing is that mum is ok. She will bounce back and produce another clutch.
This time, you made some mistakes. When the next clutch comes along, you will be better prepared, have a better incubator running, and will hopefully succeed.
The method I have always used is vermiculite and water mixed 1:1 by volume then squeeze out excess water.
Get the incubator up and running well before the eggs are due so that you know its running at the right temperature. Once eggs are laid, I make small indentations in the vermiculite and lay the eggs in it.
This has worked with 100% success for colubrids. I simply check the eggs once a week, which also allows air exchange.
Good luck for the next clutch, I'm sure you will have a very different result.


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

If its any consolation I had the same happen to me with my first clutch. I just let things get too dry and half way through the incubation period the eggs started to collapse an I lost all bar one which just happened to be right in the middle of the other eggs and deeper in the vermiculite.... It's all a learning curve, and next season you'll be more carful


----------



## bizzidy (5 mo ago)

Thanks friends for the words of encouragement.


----------

