First pairings eggs are here!!!!!! *question in side*

Finally, 9 days after her pre-lay shed mystery hypo female 1 has eggs! I only looked from outside her cage and counted around 10 (they werent there this afternoon). They all are beautifully white and plump. Question is, how do I know when it is safe to actually open up her cage, then open the laying bin and look inside? Then take them if shes done! How do I know when she is done? I dont want to leave them in there two long if I can help it, but I dont want to disturb her either and make her stop laying. Proved first year male, Jackpot, fertile! Healthy fertile eggs without brumation! Plus this is my first cornsnake clutch ever!!!! Can't you feel the excitment!LOL :dancer: :rofl: Thanks, Lindsay

ps. Do I take the entire laying bin out or just the eggs? When should I offer food? Oh and is 80.5-83.7 ok for incubation? With 82 being median. Thanks again!

Congrats!:dancer::dancer::dancer:

You should be able to tell if she still has eggs. If there isn't a lump near her vent, she is probably done. I remove the eggs from the box and incubate in a separate container. This year I'm using perlite for substrate. I offer a couple of hoppers the first day, and get as many meals in her as possible before she goes into shed. Smaller meals are better until after she sheds. Your temperatures are on the money. Again, congratulations! Oh....after moving the eggs, you might clean out the egg laying box before putting back. If she can smell the eggs, she probably won't eat.....

Chris

All done! Please, need some ?'s answered!

She seems done and is now in her bin with couple fuzzies. I took the entire laying bin out, removed the 16 eggs and put them in a container with some vermicuite and small amount of sphagnum. Is it ok for a couple of the eggs on the bottom to be almost completely buried in vermiculite? Only about 1"-1 1/2" deep. If I didnt they would not have fit in the container and with a hovabator you can only have containers so high. Does anyone know of an ideal container for hovabators, to make the most use of the space? It looks like only four of the ones I have will fit (good thing I only bred 3 females). What if one of the other females lays a larger clutch, they wont even fit in the container! Thanks Lindsay!

ps. all the eggs look GREAT, not a slug in the bunch (unfortunately that doesnt mean some wont perish) But thinking positive!

pss. If you have pics of your hovabator incubators with the containers in it, that would be great! Also I filled some of the bottom tray with water to keep the moisture up in the incubator. I have the 2 window version. Is this ok? Thanks for ANY help

temps in hovabator vs container?

I have had my incubator setup up for almost two weeks now and have had the temps stabilized between 80ish-83.7. But what I forgot was that was AIR temps in the general incubator itself. Now I have a container with 16 fertile eggs in there and the temps in the container range so far from 79/80(bottom eggs in the pile) to 83 near the top eggs??? Is this acceptable? I would hate to turn it up as right now air is reading 84.1 and inside the container near the top 83 and bottom 80.7. Which seems OK with me, not ideal (darn I hate clumped eggs). Its the 79 that worries me a little?? But turning up the heat might mean making the top couple eggs TOO hot. What does everyone else think? Thanks, Lindsay

Ps. If people could help, I would greatly appreciate it. I am a nervous wreck (first time with corn eggs).

I incubate my eggs in my reptile room, without a commercial incubator, which I keep around 80 degrees. Around, as in it stays somewhere between about 78-82. Corn eggs will incubate in upper-mid 70's. Your eggs on the bottom are likely to be the last ones to pip. Maybe a couple of days after the ones on the top. I definitely would not turn up the heat. There are more problems associated with the higher end of the heat spectrum than the lower. BTW- if you can remove that one egg that is buried, safely, from the clump, I think it is best not to have it buried.

Chris

The couple eggs at the bottom are somewhat buried (basically just pushed vermiculite up against them (the other eggs are on top, so no substrate is on the bottom eggs, just against). They are probably receiving air through the mass of eggs. I can move the vermiculite away from the eggs, but unfortunately the eggs are too bonded together to seperate, I tried that with luke warm water last night with the top egg! They REALLY stick together. Thats why I had to use a little sphagnum on the upper eggs. When they start dimpling I will move the substrate away from the eggs. Or if I see mold before they hatch! Hopefully I dont see mold though.

ps. In the wild, arent they completely buried? Or no?
pss. Depending on what people say I might take them out and do something different with the substrate. I dont want to keep moving/touching/bothering the eggs though. But if the majority thinks I should move or change substrate I will. Thanks...... Lindsay

LindsayMarie said:

The couple eggs at the bottom are somewhat buried (basically just pushed vermiculite up against them (the other eggs are on top, so no substrate is on the bottom eggs, just against). They are probably receiving air through the mass of eggs. I can move the vermiculite away from the eggs, but unfortunately the eggs are too bonded together to seperate, I tried that with luke warm water last night with the top egg! They REALLY stick together. Thats why I had to use a little sphagnum on the upper eggs. When they start dimpling I will move the substrate away from the eggs. Or if I see mold before they hatch! Hopefully I dont see mold though.

ps. In the wild, arent they completely buried? Or no?
pss. Depending on what people say I might take them out and do something different with the substrate. I dont want to keep moving/touching/bothering the eggs though. But if the majority thinks I should move or change substrate I will. Thanks...... Lindsay

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The clumping is the only reason I don't use vermiculite. "Stacked" eggs are easy to incubate in sphagnum moss, but the problem with that is it's hard to get the humidity down to a science with moss. Often it's too wet or too dry. I would keep them where you have them and cover the eggs with sphagnum. As far as what they do in the wild, I would think that sometimes the eggs get covered and sometimes they don't. Maybe by leaf litter and soil, or moss.....a lot of times the eggs are probably incubated in less than ideal conditions. That said, I think the hatch success rate would be lower in the wild because we have more control over the conditions we subject the eggs to in captivity.

Chris

Hello Lindsay, first of all, take a few deep breaths, count to 10, come out of the panic.
Now, from what I read you are doing just fine, Temperatures between 78 and 85 are fine, just realise that those having the warmer average temperature will hatch slightly sooner than the others.
As for the burying issue, not a problem as long as the vermiculite is not compacted or densely packed around the eggs, to your advantage, once your eggs that have had the higher temps start pipping you can remove substrate from around the buried ones.
Lastly, leave those eggs alone now, stop disturbing them.

Ciao

I think Chris and Roland have hit it on the head!

1) Try to chill - it all sounds fine!

2) High 70s will be fine. The eggs in that temp zone will just take a few days longer to hatch than the warmer ones.

3) Buried eggs are OK as long as they're not so low down that they're sitting in a pool of water at the bottom of the container. If I get a clump, I usually bury most of it in damp vermiculite anyway, to keep the humidity up. Hatchlings can easily find their way to the surface (as long as the vermiculite is nice and loose, as stated).

Honestly, you're doing great. You have another 60+ days to go now (longer for the cooler eggs ), so you'll wear yourself to a frazzle if you carry on worrying like this!

My eggs are always in a clump and I use perlite so that there is no danger of drowning the ones on the bottom that are completely covered. I also don't incubate, but put the egg boxes in a styrofoam cooler in the snake room to keep them at a stable temperature. They do fine. Cooler is definitely better than hot.

DROWN???

Why would they be at risk of drowning with vermiculite and sphagnum? Both of which have been moistened but if squeezed water does NOT come out. So really there is no water at the bottom of the container. The only water they get is what they absorb from the two substrates. Which is normal, no? I used to breed bearded dragons and I would lay each egg in its own spot, all lined in rows. Covered 2/3 way with vermiculite. Every week I would check to see if the eggs needed more water, if so the vermiculite around them would be misted. Had 100% hatch rate that way. This is my first time with cornsnake eggs and the vertical clumps, stink! How do I check on the bottom ones each week? I cant keep lifting them up! Now I am afraid they might drown??!!

Why would they be at risk of drowning with vermiculite and sphagnum? Both of which have been moistened but if squeezed water does NOT come out. So really there is no water at the bottom of the container..... How do I check on the bottom ones each week? I cant keep lifting them up! Now I am afraid they might drown??!!

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That's great - so there's no risk of drowning then. Go to the happy place!

They usually lay in clumps rather than "singles", so this is a pretty standard scenario.

Happy place? Im confused, comment vs sarcasm?

bitsy said:

That's great - so there's no risk of drowning then. Go to the happy place!

They usually lay in clumps rather than "singles", so this is a pretty standard scenario.

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I have seen drownings in vermiculite. It tends to stick to the shells if it gets too damp. I would be one that thinks the moisture is right and it won't be-I'm definitely one that IF it can happen it WILL. Perlite does not hold moisture. It gets damp, but excess will go thru to the bottom of the container. The grains are also larger so you at least have air circulation around the eggs. I've never worried about the bottom eggs. As long as the moisture level is good, they all do fine. I usually put a very light layer of slightly damp moss on the top of the eggs that are exposed to keep the shells from drying and to keep any drops of condensation if any from dripping directly. The nice thing about perlite as well, is that if you DO need to add water, you can just put a small amount near the edges of the containers, and it will go to the bottom. It will provide all the humdity you need without any worries of excessive water. You do need to make sure that eggs do not touch bottom or sides though.