My Ball Python incubators.

[BoidKeeper]

These are just larger versions of what I built last year for my corn eggs. They are still shipping styros for fish, just a bit bigger then normal. By being larger I can incubate more than one clutch at a time in them.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/289Ball_Incubator_1_04_04_04-med.jpg

The egg boxes are filled with vermiculite and perilite.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/289Ball_Incubator_2_04_04_04-med.jpg

I'm using the plastic grate method I see a lot of people doing now. It certainly seems like a good idea to me.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/289Ball_Incubator_3_04_04_04-med.jpg

The one on the left is slightly larger then the one on the right so for that one I use a 150w tronic heater. The one on the right I use a 100w tronic heater.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/289Ball_Incubator_4_04_04_04-med.jpg

Thanks for looking,
Trevor

[marisa]

I am setting up something similar using a underwater heater.

Do you find you have to set it much higher than the actual temp you are trying to achieve in the boxes? If so by how much approx? I will also be using styro boxes hopefully so your set up is very very similiar to my future one.

Marisa

[Tim_Cranwill]

I had my python incubator running off a 200W Tronic water heater and I found that it would just shut off for hours and my temps would drop to the 70's. It drove me nuts!

I'm rebuilding the incubator this weekend and it will be a dry box with the moisture staying in the egg boxes.

Let me know how yours works though, Trevor. Maybe I got a lemon of a Tronic.....

[BoidKeeper]

I find setting it to 91 seem to get me 89-90 no problem.
Tim I think you had a lemon man. Mine have been running for weeks. Everytime I stick my reytek in there I get an 89-91 reading. I also used the 100w tronic last year for corns and it worked great.
Cheers,
Trevor

[marisa]

Thanks. I am looking forward to trying this out then on my next eggs.

Marisa

[Tim_Cranwill]

Bummer... I even went for the high end model and still got burnt! :D

I used a cheapo heater I had kicking around last year for a clutch of corn eggs and it worked fine. Oh well.... :)

[Stockwell]

Trev, Ball eggs are huge, and the size of Goose eggs, and often stuck together..It will be a tight squeeze getting a clutch of Regius in those,even with all that substrate removed, and if you have 8 eggs stuck together, they just plain wont fit.. You need much bigger containers than shoeboxes for Regius and Blood eggs. Get the next size container up from those, the deep ones.
Don't feel bad though..this happens all the time.
People are blown away by how big Regius eggs are, plus clutches can weigh well over a kilo.

[BoidKeeper]

Thanks for the heads up. I just hope that I can get the next size box inside the incubator.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ha ha you can get them into those small Rubbermaids. But if its more than 6 eggs, or if they bee-hive them, you're screwed.

But if they're nice and lay them all singly, you're gravy! :D

http://members.shaw.ca/gallerya/ian_hypo_egg_clutch.jpg

But for bigger cluctches, you'd be up **** creek.

[Stockwell]

Jeff. I'd say you got lucky. I used to get 8 to 10 eggs that were bigger than those. I had my shoeboxes all set up too, and then it was a bloody panic trying to figure out what to do , as they were all stuck together. I had to make late night Zellers run! Or maybe it was Kmart back then
Another point is they tend to expand and get quite a bit bigger as the time goes by.
I've seen other guys, make the same mistake, and then have to cut the tops out and add extensions, made from Ice Cream containers . LOL
I'm just warning Trev... There was nobody to warn me when I was breeding the beasts.

[Jeff_Favelle]

These eggs weren't tiny. The clutch of 6 weighed 570g (95g per egg). About average from what I've seen.

Ha ha, I actually had these eggs set up in an 11.4L, but then I needed it for Jungle eggs, so I tried to see if they'd fit in the smaller one, and they did!! But I was damn paranoid about them touching the sides and "drowning"! My WORST fear, LOL!!

But yeah, I agree with Roy, would just go with the 11.4L ones. They are the PERFECT size, and if you get 2 small clutches, you can double them up. They just seem to be MADE for Ball Pythons eggs!

[Will]

The egg boxes are filled with vermiculite and perilite.

Question: Why mix it...? Could you just use one or the other or is there an advantage to mixing the two...?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Perlite and vermiculite have completely different compositions and aborptive capacities. If neither one has what you want/need, but a combination does, why NOT mix it?

[Will]

Just curious - What are the pros/cons of them, and what ratio do you use...?

[Jeff_Favelle]

I sometimes use 50/50, sometimes use 30/70, sometimes no mix, sometimes neither, sometimes I don't measure etc etc...

The beauty of the no-substrate method is that it doesn't matter what you use under the egg crate. But if you're putting the eggs right on it, I can't see a 50/50 ratio being all that bad.

Vermiculite can get really wet, and perlite can get really really dry. A combo of the two can be just right.