Hello all!
I’m waiting for my female to lay her first clutch and it seems like I’ll having a work trip from day 29 until day 31 after the date of the pre-lay shed.
My question is if there is a time limit between the time a female lays and we put the eggs inside an incubator or just be forced to do maternal incubation.
This is her first clutch I don’t want her to do maternal incubation, but I don’t know if I’ll be force if she lays on day 29 (me just leaving) and already 2/3 days has passed before I can get home.
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A few days is fine. Heck these animals will actually incubate their own eggs if you give them the opportunity.
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Millions of years of evolution say she can incubate on her own. Mom snake and mom nature got it covered.
Make sure her water is fresh and have an appropriate nest for her before you leave. A handful of damp moss or coco fibre in her hide and she will handle the rest.
Most captive snakes are overweight so she shouldn’t have any issues like hunger just keep her water clean.
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Thanks for your replies, it gives peace of mind.
She has a good weight and being her first clutch I don’t expect for her to drop a crazy amount of eggs (I don’t know if that has anything to do with how things work), but that’s the main reason when thinking of incubating the eggs, allow her to rest and get back to food gradually in case she loose a good amount of body weight.
I don’t plan to breed her again anytime soon, this was more to experience the breeding process than for business reason. I’ll keep most of the babies if she ends up having dreams or pieds. She is a pet at the end of the day.
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As @gabonica1 said, some damp moss or coco will help. Definitely get that ready when you go.
The main problem that you would have is the humidity being too low and the eggs drying out. Mom will usually be great about maintaining the temps for you.
Once you get home you can just go ahead and treat it like she just laid. The eggs will just be stuck together pretty well so it might be more difficult to separate them safely.
When you unwrap her from the eggs make sure to check for any lumps and bumps in her belly. She should be pretty sunken in on the underside from how they wrap the eggs and how much space they took. If you do find a lump, that would be the time for vet because that could be a bound egg.
Give mom a gentle bath with some dish soap to get the egg smell off her and a fresh clean home to go back to. That will be the way to get her back to thinking about things other than eggs. My girls will usually eat the next day after that. One took 3 days to get out of the funk.
Also… Make sure to have the egg box and incubator ready to go before you leave that way you’re not testing and setting it up when you get back
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