So I’m breeding a banana Mojave pastel spider to a phantom yellowbelly female who’s 1700 ish grams right now. Is she big enough to maternally incubate or no?
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Those particular morphs won’t affect the breeding in any way, so that’s fine.
In theory, if you have the humidity dialed in and she’s old enough/large enough to breed, she should be able to incubate. The question would be, has she been conditioned well enough before laying? If she’s on the leaner side, I wouldn’t risk it. Not all mothers will leave the eggs long enough to take a quick meal.
Personally I would probably not let a female under 1900-2000g incubate them…especially so if this is your first clutch?
If you do decide to incubate them yourself, you can give mom a quick soak with some dish soap to remove the egg smell and give her a nice clean tub and she should start eating in a few days.
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Also here’s a good thread with a lot of talk about the experiences too: Maternal Incubation Method - #17 by crawford_reptile_co
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I agree with @armiyana
they go through so much physically during the entire egg laying process even without going another 60 days without food to maternally incubate it could put her at even more of a health risk if she is not in excellent condition. I don’t suggest maternal incubation at all, even though it is natural and can be done. Too many factors, both environmental and physical to do it unless very experienced in husbandry and breeding bps. Good luck though, whichever way you choose to go!
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Unfortunately, a cousin of mine, a relatively new hobby breeder at the time, decided to let his ball python maternally incubate last year. It didn’t end well, for many reasons. Although I’m interested in the process of breeding, I know several problems arose such as humidity levels being too unstable and way too low, snake was probably around 1700g. He had made this decision to do maternal incubation because he returned from a work trip and the eggs had been laid. His housemate “peeked in” daily but I assume didn’t fully open the enclosure to see her wrapped around her eggs. Cousin had no idea how long ago she laid. The eggs, after about 5 or 6 weeks, had become so leathery and shriveled that there was no way any of the babies were alive, and I don’t know the explanation but mama abandoned the eggs at some point. Babies looked like babies almost ready to hatch like a premature birth in humans but each had a severe neck kink. So sad all around. I know each method has been proven effective but must be carefully executed and thought out and then it’s a matter of personal choice.
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Good example for this thread! @gina5678 So many things can go wrong, not saying it’s not possible but it’s so much easier to have stable temps and humidity in a controlled small contained space. Also the kinks are a lot of time associated with some genetic morphs(don’t know what your cousin bred morph wise) but also with fluctuations in temperature, which was probably the case here. Unfortunately your cousin had to learn this firsthand.
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