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Help! My corn had babies!

Paranoika

Paranoika

New member
I went to take my female out of the terrarium she shares with a male (they'd never shown signs of breeding, so it was my fault for keeping them together), and lo and behold there were eggs! One is obviously a dud, but there are six others that I'm not sure about. Here's the problem: we were completely unprepared and didn't know what to do. The pet stores are all closed right now (I also work at one). So I called a co-worker. He said to incubate them at a temp of 80 degrees and get the right substrate. I don't have the proper substrate so I put them on damp paper towels in a critter keeper (the plastic ones). Now I don't know what heating source to use. I have bulbs and under tank pads. Will the paper towel be enough until I work tomorrow and can get them the proper substrate? Should I mist them? My co-worker recommended air-tight containers, but I don't have that right now.
Please help me! I don't know what to do!!
 
First.... take a deep breath :) now, do you have any gladware containers?? They work very well. If not, maybe go to walmart and get one?? Also, if you go there, look in the plants department and pick up a bag of vermiculite.. if they dont have that then look for perilite or even peat moss. These can be used for keeping the eggs from drying out. Mix the substrate so that it is moist but not wet. You can use even a human heat pad to keep them warm (you should also have a indoor/outdoor thermastate with a probe (also available at walmart lol) Place the eggs inside the gladware container, making sure to not turn them during moveing them. Good luck... I hope you will seperate them now that you know they are of age...
 
It says on the bag that is promotes digging, breeding, and egg-incubation. Also, should we bury them or just place them on top? I have some unopened zoomed high range reptile thermometer. The ones that stick to the side. Are those ok?
 
its not the best because it does dry out quite quickly but in a pinch, yep, should work. Just be careful when adding the water. Make it luke warm water and stir it lots! when it start to clump abit then, that should be enough water.
 
paranoika3 said:
It says on the bag that is promotes digging, breeding, and egg-incubation. Also, should we bury them or just place them on top? I have some unopened zoomed high range reptile thermometer. The ones that stick to the side. Are those ok?
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Just place the eggs on top of the substrate. Are the eggs singles or are they in a clump??

Usually the ones that stick onto the sides dont work very accurately. For the night, it should help you kinda know the temps but I would suggest getting something better tomorrow. :)
 
the eggs are all singles. She was wrapped around 3, 3 were scattered around the tank, and he was wrapped around 1. One of them was tiny, very yellow and deformed, so we tossed it. I was surprised by how soft the eggs are. Is that normal? There are also little snowflake shaped bumps on them... My co-worker says that's probably b/c they were dehydrated. I honestly don't expect much from this clutch, b/c we were so unprepared and maybe caught them a little too late.
 
paranoika3 said:
I went to take my female out of the terrarium she shares with a male (they'd never shown signs of breeding, so it was my fault for keeping them together), and lo and behold there were eggs! One is obviously a dud, but there are six others that I'm not sure about. Here's the problem: we were completely unprepared and didn't know what to do. The pet stores are all closed right now (I also work at one). So I called a co-worker. He said to incubate them at a temp of 80 degrees and get the right substrate. I don't have the proper substrate so I put them on damp paper towels in a critter keeper (the plastic ones). Now I don't know what heating source to use. I have bulbs and under tank pads. Will the paper towel be enough until I work tomorrow and can get them the proper substrate? Should I mist them? My co-worker recommended air-tight containers, but I don't have that right now.
Please help me! I don't know what to do!!
Click to expand...

You're fine with paper towels. I know a breeder that uses those solely as an incubation medium and hatches out snakes just fine....with extremely good incubation rates.

Most however prefer vermiculite, perlite, or moss. I prefer the vermic because it's a mineral and doesn't promote fungal/bacterial growth. To each their own.

You want the substrate damp but not wet. You should not be able to squeeze out any water if you attempt to wring it out. I agree with your co-worker, you want an air tight container....essentially anyway. Glad and ziploc containers work wonders for that purpose.

As a side note on the container, make sure you add air holes when you're about a week away from hatching. I made that mistake last year and lost an entire clutch worth somewhere around $3k. Learn from my mistake.
 
Yes, its normal for them to feel soft to the touch. The snowflake type bumps you see are I THINK from the calcium in the females body. That shouldnt affect the eggs.
 
I wouldn't chance putting a heat pad or a light on them without using a good thermometer and thermostat. If you have a closet or maybe on top of the refrigerator that stays in the high 70s to mid 80s, then that's where I would put the egg container. Which needs to be airtight or very nearly so, to keep the humidity up, eggs need humidity to stay hydrated.
 
I'm also worried that perhaps Isis was too small to breed... How do I know if she's been adversely affected by this small clutch? My co worker also said there's a small chance she could lay another clutch in about a month. Should I be worried about that?
 
paranoika3 said:
I'm also worried that perhaps Isis was too small to breed... How do I know if she's been adversely affected by this small clutch? My co worker also said there's a small chance she could lay another clutch in about a month. Should I be worried about that?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be 'worried', but I'd be aware. You need to feed her as much as she'll accept within that time frame. Get her started on smaller meals and go every 5 days instead of 7. Laying eggs takes a lot of of females and double clutches can do a lot of damage if the snake doesn't put on adequate weight after the first clutch.
 
The eggs are also very long, not very egg-shaped... Is that a bad omen?
(Sorry for asking so many questions, but this is my first time dealing with eggs, so I'm very curious)
 
Corn eggs can come in all shapes and sizes, I've got a female that lays torpedo shaped eggs that hatch fine :)

At a stable temp of about 83F the eggs should hatch at around 60 days give or take a week :)
 
I went to wal-mart and they recommended the Expert Gardener Moisture Mix Potting Soil. The ingredients are: reed-sedge peat, composted forest products, sphagnum peat moss, horticultural perlite, ground dolomitic limestone, a wetting agent, time-released fertilizer and water holding polymer crystals (potassium polyacrylamide polymer). Is that ok? Or is the fertilizer unsafe?
 
I've always been told not to use anything with fertilizer in, so no I don't think it's safe. I don't know about the other ingredients :shrugs:

The majority of people use sphagnum moss, vermiculite or perlite I believe. I personally use vermiculite, as that's what I'm confident with :)
 
Will I be ok the Fir and Sphagnum peat moss mix? Should I mist them every so often, as I've been told it doesn't retain the moisture as well? They've been in it for a little over 24hrs now. My work doesn't have vermiculite and I went to 3 other places and they didn't either. It's a holiday here, so most stores are closed.
 
Most garden centres should stock vermiculite, perlite and sphagnum moss :)

I've never used the stuff you're asking about, so I'll leave that for another member to answer, if that's ok, I wouldn't want to give you bad advice :)
 
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