Omg Eggs!!! Help Asap!!!

[IguanaMama]

PLEASE JUST HELP ME and don't chastise me for being an idiot. I have a brother and sister living together and I REALLY THOUGHT they were too young to breed. Well I look into the tank just now and OMG EGGS! She must have layed them sometime between last night and now. WHAT DO I DO? I haven't read anything about breeding. I was planning on seperating them just as soon as I sold my Leopard Geckos, I really thought they were too young to breed UGH HELP!!!!! I don't have an incubator nor the funds to buy one, but I do have vermiculite laying around what do I DOOOOOOOO?

 

[snake5007]

get a see through plastic tub, half fill it with damp vermiculite,put the eggs in the tub and put the tub on a heat mat with a lid on. let me know how you get on, this is just a quick solution, so i'll be able to give you better advice once you've got those eggs sorted.

 

[PtDnsr]

get a see through plastic tub, half fill it with damp vermiculite,put the eggs in the tub and put the tub on a heat mat with a lid on. let me know how you get on, this is just a quick solution, so i'll be able to give you better advice once you've got those eggs sorted.

I'm not sure I would put the tub on a heat mat without any sort of thermostat. Heat mats can get very hot - too hot for eggs. I would just put the eggs in the tub and stick it on top of your fridge or tv or other warm appliance. Our eggs last year hatched on top of our fridge and this years are hatching on top of our racks. The most important part is to make sure that the eggs don't dry out. You should also separate your snakes NOW. Take the male out of the current cage and put him in another. If you don't have another cage get another rubbermaid or sterilite and drill some holes in it for a temporary basis. In case your girl isn't done laying you might want to provide a nest box as well. You can do a search on the forums to find more information. Hope this helps!

~Katie

 

[IguanaMama]

OK thank you so much, I am shaking right now I am so nervous. I got a tupperware tub, half filled it with vermic, damp. There are six eggs, but they are stuck together. Is this bad? Should I try to seperate them? The eggs are quite heavy. The mother is kind of small to be a mother I think--Summer 2004 I believe, I'm so glad she wasn't egg bound. Should I punch holes in the tub?

The temps here are very warm. It is 84 degrees farienheit outside, I don't know what that translates into celcious, but it's VERY warm, lemonade and air conditioning temps so I'm not sure a heat pad is needed. I have a copy of Kathy Love's book somewhere, but I'm too nervous to think where I put it.

 

[IguanaMama]

Oh, do I partially bury the eggs or just lay them on top of the vermic. I also have sphagnam moss laying around if that is needed.

 

[your_only_nightmare]

check your girl over for eggs she still may have some inher

 

[isobel]

Hi Iguanamama
You don't need to put holes in the tub, just open it every 3 or 4 days for an exchange of air. Your right you certainly don't need a heat mat. Your eggs will be fine ontop of the fridge or tv.

Also its ok that they are stuck together, sometimes the eggs will come apart easily, if not just leave them.
I bury mine in just over 1 third into the vermiculite, some people bury them half way in but this is your choice!

good Luck
Let us know how you get on

isobel

 

[Paradox]

Wow, that must have been a big surprise. Wish I could offer advice, but not having any experiance I can't. But good luck, hope it all goes well for you

 

[your_only_nightmare]

with me, i have the eggs sitting on vermic and ive spread spagnum moss over the top of them, they seem to be doing great soo far, goo dluck with them, let us know how they get on, can you post a egg of the pics

 

[your_only_nightmare]

opps, ost a pic of the eggs, sorry

 

[carol]

Don't forget to stop and ask yourself a few questions before going into this venture...

If I can't afford a $40 incubator, how will I afford to house, feed, and care for six new hatchlings?

If I don't know my animals well enough to recognize the stress and agitation a gravid female without a lay box goes through, will I have the capabilities to recognize signs of stress in hatchlings?

If I haven't absorbed enough info after being on this site for a year and a half to know that a 2004 animal would be very capable of breeding, will I be able to absorb enough info after a couple of days to know how to properly incubate the eggs? Will I be able to absorb enough info to know how to care for neonates in two months?

No one can answer these questions but you. I'm not trying to be mean, but they are questions that deserve consideration before you decide to try and salvage the eggs.

 

[IguanaMama]

OK, I'm calm now. I can't believe how stupid I was. And I thought she was just really growing nice and large. She is so much smaller now. Doesn't look like there is anything else in her. When should I feed her? She must be hungry after all that.

 

[IguanaMama]

First of all, I can afford a $40 incubator, having being caught by surprise, I didn't think pricing incubators was top priority, I thought they were more expensive and certainly not worth my expense, I am not a breeder.

My animal was NOT stressed or agitated. I tried feeding her last night, she acted normally except that she refused food. I mentioned to my husband that I was worried about that as she is such a good eater, and that I would try again tonight and if she refused again I would take her to the vet. She is in a nice and large set-up with plenty of hides and logs. I look at her everyday, I would notice odd behavior. I just thought she was growing well!

Although I registered for this site a year an a half ago, that does not mean that I visit it frequently. When I registered, the snakes were a little larger than a pencil, and I thought they would have been seperated by now, I had NO intention of breeding them, therefore I didn't research that aspect of their care.

I cannot see any other option but to try to salvage the eggs and properly care for the neonates. What else are you suggesting, that I toss them in the garbage? Sorry, but that is not in my nature. I realize I made a mistake, but worse have been made. That is why I am here to try to get good advice and to follow it. Ease up! If you can't offer help to me right now, just stay out of this thread and not waste my time.

Don't forget to stop and ask yourself a few questions before going into this venture...

If I can't afford a $40 incubator, how will I afford to house, feed, and care for six new hatchlings?

If I don't know my animals well enough to recognize the stress and agitation a gravid female without a lay box goes through, will I have the capabilities to recognize signs of stress in hatchlings?

If I haven't absorbed enough info after being on this site for a year and a half to know that a 2004 animal would be very capable of breeding, will I be able to absorb enough info after a couple of days to know how to properly incubate the eggs? Will I be able to absorb enough info to know how to care for neonates in two months?

No one can answer these questions but you. I'm not trying to be mean, but they are questions that deserve consideration before you decide to try and salvage the eggs.

 

[carol]

Well, I'm sorry to hear that you think considering those questions is of no help and a waste of time.

That is why I am here to try to get good advice and to follow it.

Good advice, or only advice thats easy to hear?

 

[ghosthousecorns]

You must spread some rep around before giving it to Carol again....
Iguanamama, she is not deliberately being mean. It's just that your situation could have been prevented with minimal research. Is it really in their best interest (the eggs) to hatch if you will not have housing etc ready for them?
I threw out a whole second clutch of eggs last year because I had already hatched so many babies that I wouldn't have had individual housing for each snakeling and I didn't want to cohabitate the young ones. It's hard to decide to end a life before it begins but you have to think what life will be like for them down the road. This is the same reason I don't want to breed 'normals, amels, anerys. and snows' anymore because I feel these common 'cheap' morphs may not end up in the best hands, it's sad but the more people spend on a pet the more likely they are to care for it properly.
If you do decide to hatch them I hope you will spend a little time reading some of the older threads on this forum about neonatal care. Good luck with your eggs and I hope you will come away from this whole experience wiser. As has already been said I would make sure that your female did lay all of them as it's very common for too-young females to end up retaining an egg.

 

[isobel]

OK, I'm calm now. I can't believe how stupid I was. And I thought she was just really growing nice and large. She is so much smaller now. Doesn't look like there is anything else in her. When should I feed her? She must be hungry after all that.

I wouldn't feed her just yet she is probably exhausted, make sure there is lots of fresh water available to her though. My Ruby didn't move for 2 days after she lay so i held her to the water and she gulped it down (i was a bit worried she would get dehydrated).
I didn't feed her until after her post-lay shed. But this also is completely up to you! some people feed their corns a few days after they have layed.
Only offer her something small though
What is she feeding on at the moment?

Good Luck

Isobel

 

[bitsy]

I threw out a whole second clutch of eggs last year

I also put two second clutches in the freezer last year, a fortnight into their incubation. The shop that had initially offered to take them was over-stocked with Corn hatchlings at that time and I couldn't have found homes for 30+ hatchlings myself.

It sounds harsh, IguanaMama, but this really is a serious consideration and a matter of welfare for the resulting hatchlings. There's no doubt that it's a horrible decision to make and not one to take lightly, but sometimes it's the right thing to do.

Best of luck whatever you decide. It's certainly an adventure.

I feed my females as soon as they'll take something, but smaller food than they'd usually eat, at shorter intervals. For example, I have one this year who is normally on one large mouse a fortnight. After laying, she's eaten one small mouse every four days. I'll feed her again in four days and this time offer a large mouse.

Some won't feed until after there post-lay shed - as with all things Corny, they don't read the rule books and tend to do their own thing (generally choosing the option that causes us maximum concern!).

 

[colinmcc]

get a see through plastic tub, half fill it with damp vermiculite,put the eggs in the tub and put the tub on a heat mat with a lid on.

Just to emphasise to anyone else that happens to read that.

Don't do it!

A tub directly on a mat (especially without some sort of thermostat control) will get WAY too hot!

I use a rear mounted mat on the outside of a glass tank (with the eggs in tubs inside the glass tank) to keep my (well, my snakes) eggs warm. If your temps are in the 80's anyway, it sounds like they should be fine without additional heating.

 

[snake5007]

Just to emphasise to anyone else that happens to read that.

Don't do it!

A tub directly on a mat (especially without some sort of thermostat control) will get WAY too hot!

I use a rear mounted mat on the outside of a glass tank (with the eggs in tubs inside the glass tank) to keep my (well, my snakes) eggs warm. If your temps are in the 80's anyway, it sounds like they should be fine without additional heating.

if you make a very thick layer of medium,put the eggs on top and then cover them over,they will be fine. i'm not talking about two inches here. if you use different ratios of medium, you will find that at a certain amount of medium,the temp will be just right to incubate. i found this out from weeks of testing,well before any eggs were laid.

 

[colinmcc]

1. I still wouldn't recommend it.

2. Sounds like a waste of incubation medium to me .....