Green Burmese dropped yesterday PLEASE help.

Green Burmese dropped yesterday PLEASE help.

Postby gmoth » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:47 am

PLEASE HELP GUYS

My green burmese dropped eggs yesterday. I have the tempreature set to 30.5 degrees and i am leaving work at lunch time to take them out and into the incubator.

A few questions...

What is the exact correct humidity and temperature for burm eggs?

I am not 100% sure how to build the incubator please help? I do have that exact same fish tank heater with the digital display. I have a 2 foot fish tank. My question is does the heater go into the vermiculite or do you actually heat the water surrounding the vermiculite?

From what i can see is the heater is in the vermiculite but then tell me if there is no hater in the water how do you get the condensation that you are getting in pics above?(These are pics from the ball python thread)

Please help guys i hope im not too late its been 1 day and they are still with her but look perfect.

I guess leaving them with her as opposed to incubation is not an option?
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Postby Bjorn » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:46 am

Here is a care sheet for incubating eggs. 31-32 is suggested and they take about 60 days to hatch. It is best to remove them from her.

http://www.geocities.com/vermont_herpetology/article2.htm

The heater is placed in the water and the box with vermiculite can be raised on bricks but should be in contact with the water for good temp distribution. Here is an article on the step by stem process.http://www.reptilia.org/Education/Habitarium/incubator_intro.htm

Here is another link http://www.bobclark.com/a03_06.asp

Prepair the vermiculite buy putting it into a sive and poor boilling water over it. Let it drain and cool before placing eggs in. The mixture must not be water logged. Keep the eggs in the same possition they are found. I think a humidity of 80% is good but I stand to be corrected.

I haven't breed eggs from Burmese pythons so maybe some other breeders can give you some better advise.

Let us know how it goes and all the best!
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Postby Bushviper » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:48 am

Dont stress. I know of numerous people who just leave the eggs with the female and she hatches them. Obviously that is not the easiest way to control temps.

I would leave them with her until you have the incubator up and running and tested.
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Postby gmoth » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:57 am

Thank you so much guys i hope its not too late but the mamma seems to be looking after them well and i cant see a day and a half with her and then putting them into an incubator effecting them? Well i hope not anyway.

I have a 2 foot fish tank at home so what i am going to do is probably get two ice cream tubs because of amount of eggs and put them on top of bricks with water just touching the bottom. I will take temperature to 31? I have a fish tank heater so i presume maybe water will have to be about 33 to get 31 inside the ice cream tubs? I read that vermiculite must be damp but no wet? If the humidity is not enough should i spray the fish tank or actually spray the eggs with warm water? How can you get the humidity up? I am going to cover fish tank with a piece of glass so that should be ok.

I think humidity for burms is about 80% i will need to confirm.
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Postby gbrown » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:07 pm

Ok the thing in the egg container is a digital thermometer probe, indoor out door type, I've found that the thermostat runns about half a degree hotter that the digital probe this may have something to do the air temperature.

The box and polystyrene is for insulation as I am paranoid and obsessive compulsivewhen it comes to the snakes, go figure!!!

The heater is in about 3or 4 inches of water at the moment with the lid sealed to try create a stable environment, just be careful if you have the same heater to place the thermostat probe above the heater as it has an automatic cut off to prevent the heater burning out if the waterlevel gets too low, NB!!!!! monitor the water level carefully. Also try not to place the thermostat on the opposite side on the tank as this will lead to quite a high temperature difference as it is still an on off thermostat.

The eggs are in a sealed container with only the dampened vermiculite providing moisture, see bjorn's post. Be careful if you are going to put a lid on the tank that you don't want to excess moisture dripping onto the eggs as this excess moisture can kill them I've heard, hence the sealed ice cream tub.

Try web search as much as you can it's helpful.
I can just say I know the feeling and try not stress.
How many eggs do you have btw? Will they fit in the two foot tank?
Post pics if you can and good luck.
Hope it helped.
GB
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Postby Bushviper » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:11 pm

Okay you will need more than two ice cream tubs. The rest of the plan can work. There are a lot more eggs than what you think.

You need two people to remove the eggs. One gets the snake and the other makes sure the eggs do not roll off or roll around. Slip your hands under her from below and hold the eggs in position.

They might all be in one big pyramid. Dont try to pull them apart especially after a few days. Those that are not included in the pile can be gently placed in vermiculite. Mark where the top is with a pencil (not a pen or koki) and check that it has not rotated.

Weigh the vermiculite, 500gm of vermiculite with 500 ml of slightly warm water.

Check the temperature where the eggs are. 31.5 is a good temperature. The water will possibly be 33 or there abouts.

The humidity will be enough. Cover the fish tank with a piece of glass and then just remove it every day to check on the eggs. Dont let water drop on the eggs!!! Pick it up slowly on one side and the condensation will run off on the other side.

Top up the water as it evaporates so that the water is always in contact with the bottom of the container.

Good luck.
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Postby gbrown » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:16 pm

As far as I know you can spay them with warm water I just scooped water from the incubator and poured it down the sides of the container avoiding the eggs entirely then sealing it up again and letting the heat do the work, it seemed safer to do it that way.
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Postby gmoth » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:18 pm

gbrown wrote:Ok the thing in the egg container is a digital thermometer probe, indoor out door type, I've found that the thermostat runns about half a degree hotter that the digital probe this may have something to do the air temperature.

The box and polystyrene is for insulation as I am paranoid and obsessive compulsivewhen it comes to the snakes, go figure!!!

The heater is in about 3or 4 inches of water at the moment with the lid sealed to try create a stable environment, just be careful if you have the same heater to place the thermostat probe above the heater as it has an automatic cut off to prevent the heater burning out if the waterlevel gets too low, NB!!!!! monitor the water level carefully. Also try not to place the thermostat on the opposite side on the tank as this will lead to quite a high temperature difference as it is still an on off thermostat.

The eggs are in a sealed container with only the dampened vermiculite providing moisture, see bjorn's post. Be careful if you are going to put a lid on the tank that you don't want to excess moisture dripping onto the eggs as this excess moisture can kill them I've heard, hence the sealed ice cream tub.

Try web search as much as you can it's helpful.
I can just say I know the feeling and try not stress.
How many eggs do you have btw? Will they fit in the two foot tank?
Post pics if you can and good luck.
Hope it helped.
GB


Thanks so much mate...

I would imagine i have anywhere between 15 to 20 eggs fingers crossed i checked them this morning and they still look perfect so hopefully they will be ok.

I have pic of the mamma with them ill post. There are soooo many options from reading on the net. I will def use 2 foot fish tank with perhaps a big plastic box inside i was going to use ice cream tubs but maybe because of the amount of eggs i will just buy a plastic container that will be able to house them. I will have lid for plastic container and i will put a piece of glass on top of the fish tank to keep moisture in there.

I still need to find out exact temp and humidity for burm eggs anyone have an idea?

Thanks again guys.
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Postby gbrown » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:28 pm

Don't hold me to this but I think that most python eggs are the same 88-90 (31-32) degree bracket, I'll ask Gavin next time I see him.
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Postby gbrown » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:30 pm

Inch by inch play by play
till we're finnished
One Inch at a time.
(Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday)
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Postby froot » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:30 pm

You can fix a large plastic bowl upside down onto the lid so that the dome is over the eggs. This way any condensation will run down the sides of the dome and drip off missing the eggs.

I would strongly recommend thermal insulation though. A big polystyrene box from fish suppliers is perfect, or you can use a large cooler box. This way you'll have much better temperature control.
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Postby gmoth » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:34 pm

Thanks guy im just not sure where to get polystyrene box i mean there are no fish suppliers round here. Can you buy them do they still make them for to use as cooler boxes? I was thinking makro?
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Postby froot » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:58 pm

Try pick up a lead at a fish restaurant or a supermarket.
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Postby Long John Silver » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:29 pm

Why dont you just buy a cheap a$$ plastic coolerbox at makro. Even if it costs you R500 (which it won't, there are much cheaper ones), see it as an investment. Because if you hatch 20 pythons and sell them at R800 each.........You do the math.
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Postby gmoth » Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:56 pm

Thanks a lot guys, managed to get two polystyrene boxes the only problem is they are too wide for even a 3 foot fish tank.

My plan is to cut the box to size tonight i will have to tape it up but im sure it will hold. I will then put it in a fish tank with a polystyrene lid on fish tank.

I have vermiculite, fish tank heater with thermostat, a humidity reader and a temp reader with a probe.

I'm going to sort it all out tonight so FINGERS CROSSED. I noticed the eggs don't l;look as good as yesterday but she is still coiled around them and they look fine i guess even if they were in the incubator from yesterday they still wouldn't have looked perfect?

Im going to set temp for 31.5 and try get humidity to 80% I hope it does the trick.
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