Congrats.........

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Posted by Pedersen, S�e on May 24, 2000 at 13:26:53:

In Reply to: AHHHRGGGH! My snakes mated! posted by Seb K. on May 24, 2000 at 10:00:58:

Hi Seb
First of all. Congratulations, hopefully some baby worms are on the way.
All though I am not an expert, I will try to guide you through in the steps as they follow:

1. The eggs take about 40 days to develob, but that is the absolute minimum. At my place it has taken from 39-83 days from the last copulation and untill the eggs are there. Normally it takes about 45-50 days.
2. The female will shed from 5-14 days prior to oviposition, and she will be more and more active and start searching for a suitable place to lay the eggs. Very often she will stop eating or just eat very small food objects in the later part of it`s pregnancy.
3. Place a dark box in the terrarium filled with � sphagnum and � sand and moist untill you cannot press any water out of it with your hands. I usually remove all other snakes to let the female be as undesturbed as possible. Make only one opening in the box to allow it to be as dark as possible. If your female doesn`t find a suitable place, she might place them in the waterbowl.
4. The eggs are very often placed in a solid mass. Don`t try to break it apart. If there are infertile or damaged eggs, they usually wont desturb the good ones. NEVER turn the eggs. Place a little dot with a pen on the top of the eggs, so you in all cases can see what side should be up.
5. Place the eggs in a incubator at about 26-27 degrees Celcius (to eliminate the possibility of one sex juveniles)and with a humidity of at least 80 o/oo. There are described in practically all books on keeping reptiles, how an incubator is made. Make sure that there isn`t any condensed water dripping onto the eggs.
6. You can see if the eggs are fertile after a short time. If you haven`t tried it before, wait 14 days and use a light-pen. At that time you can see nice bloodvessels in the eggs with it. Light can stress and weaken the embryos, so if you have the patience.....don`t( I know it is hard).
7. At 26-27 degrees Celcius, the juveniles with slit the eggs open after about 65-70 days, and will be looking out for some time (often a day or two) They need time to absorb the eggyolk before leaving the egg.
8. The juveniles will shed after about a week, and is then ready for their first meal.

Best of luck
S�e

Reptilia_Denmark

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: Hi Seb : First of all. Congratulations, hopefully some baby worms are on the way. : All though I am not an expert, I will try to guide you through in the steps as they follow: : 1. The eggs take about 40 days to develob, but that is the absolute minimum. At my place it has taken from 39-83 days from the last copulation and untill the eggs are there. Normally it takes about 45-50 days. : 2. The female will shed from 5-14 days prior to oviposition, and she will be more and more active and start searching for a suitable place to lay the eggs. Very often she will stop eating or just eat very small food objects in the later part of it`s pregnancy. : 3. Place a dark box in the terrarium filled with � sphagnum and � sand and moist untill you cannot press any water out of it with your hands. I usually remove all other snakes to let the female be as undesturbed as possible. Make only one opening in the box to allow it to be as dark as possible. If your female doesn`t find a suitable place, she might place them in the waterbowl. : 4. The eggs are very often placed in a solid mass. Don`t try to break it apart. If there are infertile or damaged eggs, they usually wont desturb the good ones. NEVER turn the eggs. Place a little dot with a pen on the top of the eggs, so you in all cases can see what side should be up. : 5. Place the eggs in a incubator at about 26-27 degrees Celcius (to eliminate the possibility of one sex juveniles)and with a humidity of at least 80 o/oo. There are described in practically all books on keeping reptiles, how an incubator is made. Make sure that there isn`t any condensed water dripping onto the eggs. : 6. You can see if the eggs are fertile after a short time. If you haven`t tried it before, wait 14 days and use a light-pen. At that time you can see nice bloodvessels in the eggs with it. Light can stress and weaken the embryos, so if you have the patience.....don`t( I know it is hard). : 7. At 26-27 degrees Celcius, the juveniles with slit the eggs open after about 65-70 days, and will be looking out for some time (often a day or two) They need time to absorb the eggyolk before leaving the egg. : 8. The juveniles will shed after about a week, and is then ready for their first meal. : Best of luck : S�e

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