I know we have a lot of ball python breeders here and I was wondering do any of you folks let the females incubate the eggs themselves? From what Ive read/heard its not very common. If I understand correctly the downside is the female stays off feed longer. And of course less control over the eggs.

Am I off the mark? Anybody let the females do their thing? And if so how are your results?

It's much easier for me to control the needed environment in an incubator then leave them with a female.... lack of humidity here means I'd lose the eggs. Don't need to worry about the eggs when they are in the incubator either. And I don't like keeping the females off food any longer then they need be, not that they can't!

People do it, just I believe there are too many risk factors for me to do it....

I've done it with really good results. The only clutch I lost through maternal incubation was a clutch the mother climbed off of and never went back -- they died in the incubator a few weeks later. It's possible the mother knew they were bad to begin with which is why she didn't return -- the following season she sat nicely on her eggs without issue. IMO it's actually much easier to maternally incubate than to artificially incubate.

You're on the mark... in '06 my first female laid her first clutch of eggs and I decided not to use the incubator I had just paid a few hundred for... not sure why I decided that, just a hunch I guess... anyway all the eggs hatched out fine. I caught a lot of heat for the choice I made; Tthere's a long (painful) thread about it at this link: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=33496

I've done it with really good results. The only clutch I lost through maternal incubation was a clutch the mother climbed off of and never went back -- they died in the incubator a few weeks later. It's possible the mother knew they were bad to begin with which is why she didn't return -- the following season she sat nicely on her eggs without issue. IMO it's actually much easier to maternally incubate than to artificially incubate.

Thanks for the reply!

Thats interesting. Did you ever have a female eject an egg from her clutch, try to incubate it and it went bad? Ive heard of that before. They seem to know when an egg is bad. Do they eject the slugs?

It's much easier for me to control the needed environment in an incubator then leave them with a female.... lack of humidity here means I'd lose the eggs. Don't need to worry about the eggs when they are in the incubator either. And I don't like keeping the females off food any longer then they need be, not that they can't!

People do it, just I believe there are too many risk factors for me to do it....

That seems to be general thought process among breeders. Thats the road Id take myself if I were to breed pythons. I worry a lot.

Thanks for chiming in!

Thanks for the reply!

Thats interesting. Did you ever have a female eject an egg from her clutch, try to incubate it and it went bad? Ive heard of that before. They seem to know when an egg is bad. Do they eject the slugs?

V
i 'm not 100% positive, but i believe coldthumb did a "treatise on the roll out ball huevo, and how to re-orient and successfully incubate it to achieve python breeder's permagrin in sixty days or less".
probably over a year back on ks ball forum.
maybe he can chime in here for a freshin' up...
or maybe i'm totally wrong...
ck

V
i 'm not 100% positive, but i believe coldthumb did a "treatise on the roll out ball huevo, and how to re-orient and successfully incubate it to achieve python breeder's permagrin in sixty days or less".
probably over a year back on ks ball forum.
maybe he can chime in here for a freshin' up...
or maybe i'm totally wrong...
ck

That would be cool. Its fascinating to me how they know when an egg is bad. Or perhaps not up to par. Ive had monitors do that too. And Ive tried to incubate those eggs. They never hatch. Once a monitor gives an egg the heave hoe its pretty much a done deal. Im wondering if ball pythons are different and if those eggs rejected by the female might still be viable.

That would be cool. Its fascinating to me how they know when an egg is bad. Or perhaps not up to par. Ive had monitors do that too. And Ive tried to incubate those eggs. They never hatch. Once a monitor gives an egg the heave hoe its pretty much a done deal. Im wondering if ball pythons are different and if those eggs rejected by the female might still be viable.

after you hear the TRUTH, you may feel more optimistic about those roller eggs...
ck

It's been officially recognized that artificial incubation is the way to go to help the odds.