Egg incubation setup........

[Corey Woods]

Very informative link from Ralph Davis' website and I thought I'd share it.

http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/matrix/ralphs_words/kyle_eggs.asp

Corey

[mykee]

Wow!! I wish a few things after viewing that link;
1.) I wish I had Kyle around to answer all of questions and help with setting up my incubator, and
2.) that I had a walk-in incubator to start, and that it would be that full.

[crazyboy]

wow...i wish i was kyle

[Ixidor]

lol!

[KENNETHDAHERPER]

How in the world do you make a walk in incubator?

[crocdoc]

You take a walk in room and make it warm. :)

[Corey Woods]

LOL!

[Scales Zoo]

That is great, I wish I had Kyle here helping.

So, there are no air holes in those containers? And, then he makes the containers more air tight with the plastic.

I thought eggs needed more air than that. Obviously Ralph is having good success with the method.

Corey, am I missing something - do you use air holes with your containers?

Ryan

[crocdoc]

I'm not Corey, but I can say that I don't use air holes in my containers, either, and neither do most of my herping mates here.

Most herpers I know here do one of two things: they either seal the egg box entirely and open it for air exchange, increasing the frequency as hatching approaches, or use gladwrap (=Saranwrap to you Canucks) to seal their egg boxes (it breathes, but holds in moisture).

What I did with my monitor eggs was a combination of the two. I started off with sealed egg boxes and opened them once a week for air exchange. As they approached hatching time I did the double seal thing as in the above post (plastic, then the lid) except I used gladwrap instead of the plastic and drilled holes in the lid itself so the eggs could breathe through the gladwrap.

Some monitors have very long incubation periods, so it would be hard to keep the moisture/humidity levels consistent with holes in the egg boxes. Pythons have shorter incubation times, so it isn't as much of an issue with them and I know of one or two people here that do use holes in their egg boxes for python eggs.

[Corey Woods]

Ryan,

I have two 1/2" holes in all my incubation boxes. I prefer to have high humidity and good air circulation for my eggs. But, if I had a walk in incubator room I'd probably do it the same was as Ralph.....that way I wouldn't have to have the whole incubator at close to 100% humidity.

Corey

[Stockwell]

I've done it both ways but never had more than one little hole in all four corners of the lid... It doesn't matter much providing the box isn't too small . For that matter I've accidentally had baby sand boas in deli containers with no holes for a couple weeks with no ill effects. I only noticed it because the container had condensation in it. I think eggs and baby snakes use less air than we might think.
When female pythons do maternal incubation I've noticed they can almost completely cover the entire egg mass with their bodies, and they hold on rather tightly as well.. This must also pretty much cut off air flow to the middle eggs, at least.
I'm using all new rubbermaid shoeboxes this year, with the substrate -less method and I've decided not to put any holes in.
I'm sure there will be no difference in hatch rate..
We'll see in a few weeks

[Scales Zoo]

So you are just using water under that white egg grating, egg crate (what is that stuff really called, I need to buy some) - and then the sealed rubbermade inside a dry incubator?

I once read that the best way to get high levels of humidity, is rather than just using water, using verm or perlite in peaks and valleys, with white stuff over the peaks, and then use a lot of water. It works like a wick system I guess kind of.

Ryan