hello everyone,
I am a new snake owner and needing help,
my speckled king snake laid eggs and I am needing a little advice on how to incubate them, what does the temp and humidity need to be and any advice would be helpful
A little bit of info I think is needed here…
•How long have you had this Kingsnake?
•Have you paired her with a male?
•Do you have a photo of the eggs and snake so we can have a visual reference?
The reason why I ask this is because you may not need to incubate these eggs at all if they are infertile.
You can tell if they are infertile by their appearance, if they are squishy, rubbery and yellow they are very likely slugs (infertile eggs).
If they are plump, firm and white they are fertile.
Another way you can tell is by candling the eggs, its just as simple as holding a very bright light (your phone light or an LED flashlight works well) directly on the egg to see inside it for either veins or a red ring, if the egg appears yellow all throughout with no veins or red ring at all it is infertile. If you aren’t sure about the egg you can “Incubate until there is no debate”.
If your snake has laid fertile eggs you can incubate them in an airtight container with damp (if you take it in your hands and squeeze it in your fist it should feel wet but no water should drip from it) perlite or vermiculite that is free of fertilizer or other chemicals. Incubate them at 86°F with no major temp fluctuations and they should hatch around 60 days.
Or
If you feel you cannot take in the responsibility of incubating and raising/selling the hatchlings, you can put the eggs in the freezer to cull the clutch humanely.