Maternal Incubation [Ball Python]

Since there are so few images to be found of ball pythons left to maternally incubate their clutches, I'm tossing some pics of mine doing just that. She's a pastel sibling from 8BallPythons and the male is a normal I inadvertently adopted from someone that left him in my care but never reclaimed him several years ago while working for a pet store. I'm hoping to work with a pair of het pieds next year but I expect all normals from these eggs.She's 38 days in and the eggs are still looking good. She wasn't thrilled with it but I did candle them and got the pics below on the 7th. I got to see babies fluttering around inside and I absolutely love that. The pics are lousy and I apologize. I'll have to get some extra hands to help me next time.

She's housed in a 40 breeder tank with a 30qt sterilite tub laybox lined with an inch or two of moss. I was opening the lid and misting it at least once a week in the beginning but things seem to be stable in there now. The hygrometer in the laybox is reading around 70% but she stays tightly coiled around the eggs most of the time, so I imagine the humidity is even higher beneath her. Her laybox is sitting above the heat mat for the cage and a dinky little strip thermometer in there reads 80-90 through the course of the day.

Next year I may just put the eggs in an incubator and let mom get back on track with feeding but I figured this was my year for firsts and I let her do her thing. I'm very pleased with the way things are going right now. I've only seen her leave the eggs once and that was just for a stretch and drink of water. She seems to be an excellent mother and this is her first clutch.








I had intended to just incubate these eggs when they were laid because I already had a clutch of jungle carpet pythons in the incubator and nearing their hatch date when these came. It would just be an easy rotation. In the end, I just sympathized too much with the mom and didn't want to take her eggs from her. A few weeks before I had watched a friend's video of her snake after its eggs had been removed and I just felt so sad because the poor thing was looking for her eggs. Blame the mom in me. I told myself that I'd see how it went for a week or two and if the eggs started looking poorly I would move them to the incubator. One of the eggs has a crease over its top but it's fine otherwise. It candled fine and the baby is very active inside. The rest look the same as they did when they were laid and the female stays coiled around them all the time. I can't wait until they hatch. I'm looking forward to seeing the babies, but I'm really just anxious to get some food into mom.

My camera is STILL missing!! These guys are due to hatch soon. If I have to settle for crappy cell phone pics when these eggs start pipping I will, but I won't be happy about it.

You can borrow my camera. Don't get cell phone crap

Thanks, Devin. You realize if I haven't found it before they start slitting, I'm going to be on the phone begging you to come over right? :twisted:

I found my camera! And within an hour of finding it, I realized my eggs were hatching!! :face: I've also come to the realization that I can't count. I could have sworn there were 4 eggs under her but she's uncoiled enough for me to see each one and there are five.

So far, I've got two heads peaking out. I'll get more pics tomorrow.

I swear these pics are adorable

Had to drop my van off at the shop this morning *sigh* but I got more pics when I got home.




...when Dewshine left her eggs for a drink, I saw this

gah, the adorable-ness is gonna kill me.

I just finished thawing out a small rat for her and she snapped it up. I'm SOOOO happy she'll have something in her belly again. Her last meal was back in November!! I'm going to thaw a larger rat out for her tomorrow or the day after.

I did get some pics of her lounging in the laybox, seemingly checking out babies individually. She's not coiled around them anymore, just half submerged in all the moss and resting her head on the eggs. It's incredibly sweet and yes, I'm aware that I'm humanizing her here, but it's just precious. I'll upload those pics when I get a chance.

Mom checking out one of the babies.



First one out (I believe it's a little girl)

OMG!!! They are beautiful! And congrates your success. I bet you were so worried about humidity and heat... I don't think I'd have the guts to do that...LOL.

Awww, go momma!!!!!!! That's awesome Sandy!!!!

Nah, mom took care of the humidity and heat issues. The only thing I did differently was give her a humid laybox to help in her efforts. I have to say, watching this clutch was a lot more rewarding than watching my JCP clutch in eggs. Not sure if I'll do it again next year, but mom and babies are all doing just fine and it was a great experience for me.