First season breeding and had success! I’m happy both females are healthy and got all their eggs out successfully! Combined they did produce a total of 40 combined. 21 and 19!
My one female produced majority of her clutch windowed and translucent. I’m attaching pictures for reference. They all have expanded and still look good. I didn’t candle any of them since I was nervous. Just looking for some feed back!
Top one is the normal eggs from my one girl that had 19, the bottom two photos are the ones in question. They looked like that from the start, the one is when I first uncovered them from the lay box.
Congrats on the large clutches! What genetics are the pairings?
A handful of those look pretty suspect. To be sure you can grab a pen light or small flashlight and candle them. I’ve had some funky ones that still had veins. General rule of thumb though is incubate until there’s no debate.
@ghsaltie thank you! I thought they were all suspect but I could seen good veins on a lot of them!
My one female is a toffee het lavender that had 19 eggs she was paired with a lavender male
The other one with the suspect eggs that laid 21 is an arctic het lavender. I paired her with two males cause the one I never saw them lock up but I paired her with the same male as the toffee. The other male I was hoping she would pair with was a Arctic conda het Lavendar het albino
In my opinion, that’s a bit overkill for colubrid eggs. Some people might, but I’ve never lost any putting eggs directly in moss, perlite, or other moist media. Plenty of longtime hognose breeders use setups like the OP’s.
Agreed. I myself prefer to half bury the eggs and I’ve seen plenty of others that do the same or more. I’ve even seen some go completely moldy but still keep veins and hatch a healthy baby. My first year I had so much humidity that one egg broke open and I had to diy a patch. They are incredibly resilient.
Thank you all for the replies and insight! Looks like a lot are going to slug unfortunately but I’ll continue to incubate and monitor. My first year so I actually am trying both methods. Perlite and then the coco coir method.
Do what works for you and gives you the results you desire. If you dont have any issues with bad eggs then keep doing it the way you do it. I personally wouldn’t incubate any egg in contact with any medium.
I don’t use substrate for my BP eggs.
I hatched over 60 gecko eggs in substrate so…
I think it’s mostly a matter of the phrasing. Most colubrid breeders I talk with use substrate or sphagnum. Saying that you don’t use it is fine or suggesting that you’ve had good luck with a support. I think it’s just coming off as suggesting what op is doing is wrong because the lack of acknowledging people using substrate that way?
That said, yeah the black container ones are likely duds based on that color. So I wouldn’t get upset if they start failing. Most of the ones on top look fine to me, but yeah a couple look kinda iffy.
shrug You tagged me in with my reply regarding leopard gecko eggs. OP never asked for opinions on how they were incubating the eggs, just if they looked okay. Sure, ‘incubate until there’s no debate’ is a common phrase in the hobby and what should be done. And ghsaltie even said as much before you.
No matter how you incubate a weak or infertile egg, it won’t change that it’s a dud. The rest of the eggs look good. Eggs with large windows are also a crapshoot and can still go bad regardless.
@getcusome i hope you have success. I have some recommendations for future success and some input on the incubator itself. I understand eggs go bad and sometimes eggs start off bad but improvements in the laybox as well as the incubatore or incubation method will improve hatch rate and retention. Even bad eggs can sometimes pull through with luck or proper procedures. Wheather that be a diy patch or a suspended egg that is unable to obsorbe medium moisture/bacteria because that interacts with the egg differently than ambient humidity/moisture. Same goes with medium temperature which fluctuate significantly over amabient temps especially when in direct contact with the heat source.
As previously mentioned dont change anything if you have success but you might want to make minore adjustments to improve your odds next time. I know some people use peatmose soil/sand mix but sphugnam moss will hold less bacterial pay loads, retain moisture, and can be disinfected for reuse. Just food for thought going into future projects.
Also, I know i could have just told you your eggs are bad and questionable with some being ok but figured that you requested feedback and had somethings in mind. I hope its ok that it was not on the eggs themselves but on other things that may prevent the eggs from going bad from the start.
@adon87 thank you! I appreciate the response and feedback! I may try your suspension method on my third clutch that’s about to be laid. What medium do you use on your suspension method?
Repashy super hatch or a perlite substrate. Mixing with a ratio of vermectilite is optional but i woud just use what you curently have which is perlite standalone. F10 or rubing alcohol helps keep stagnation and bacteria to a minimum throughout the incubtion process (this is used for spot cleaning mold around or on substrate and should never be put on the eggs or soaked into substrate/medium). Water retention is important but dont saturate and drain. Misting/pouring and mixing is better. You could use spoung or orbeez as a medium as well. You can even use straight water but i have only used this method for bird eggs. The seperation with grate or egg grids are important. Sealing and ventilation is just as important but thats another topic for a different day. That being said, it is vital to get to your eggs sooner or use a different medium for your laybox. I think you can still have some success using your method for incubtion with tweeks as you get experience but the problem with the eggs is stemming from the laybox and retrieving in my opinion.
@adon87 brother I got to the eggs the minute she laid them. So not sure what else could be done about retrieval. The lay box was the exact same as a world renowned breeder uses and same my other hog laid in just fine. Just think I got unlucky with her this year. Comes with the territory and I prepared for it. Just fortunate to have healthy snakes and if I get any to hatch I’ll be pleased.
Sounds like you did everything you could and the eggs are what they are.
Even renowned breeders fail or get stuck doing things the way they have been doing them because they know the ins and outs of what they have done for a long time. Its what they are comfortable with and it works for them. Sometimes they venture out of complacency and discover something better or confirm what they are doing is right. Even musicians start off copying who they like or follow the footsteps of an artist but eventually they gain experience and develop their own style and go on their own path.
Congratulations on your pairings and cant wait to see some photos of the awesome snakes.
