well i have 11 eggs( what to do/expect

[unclejay]

i had no idea that i had a female creamsicle and a male okeetee pastel until last night. my cream refused to eat over the weekend an that is very rare with her and she grew increasingly restless roaming aimlessly all through the cage. i had thought she looked pretty plump these last 4 or 5 weeks but just thought i was feeding her well.

now its my understanding that hybrids of any kind are sterle so do you think these eggs are fertle, my wife witnessed mating and thought they were fighting and did say any thing to me. i didnt brumate and it is her first time laying as far as i knowthem either but i hope it all turns out.

so i have these eggs i have made a make shift incubator for them but i have a few questions what is:

ideal temp = 82'?
ideal humid= ?
time frame in incubation=?
the reason they mated if not brumated or seperated(i know i shouldnt keep them together works good for me right now)
what are some other things i should know(all tips opinions welcom)

thanks Jason

P.S. ill post some pics

[unclejay]

do these look like healthy eggs and can my corns be identified by sight

[unclejay]

[DaemoNox]

Whats an okeetee pastel? Sounds like a fancy name for a nomal corn. Theyre really not hybrids, but integrades (emory rats were are very close subspecies of corns) and theyre not sterile, if they were the cream wouldnt of gotten gravid since shes a cross. Keep the incubation temp between 80 and 85, stay on the lower end though. Keep the medium their in moist but not very moist, the drier side of moist. Some condensation on the sides of the tub is fine but you dont want it on the top or a huge amount, too much moisture can be just as bad as keeping them too dry. They will hatch in around 60 days; start waiting for it at day 50 but they could go 70 days or longer.

Corns will breed just fine without brumated, they know what season it is and come from as far down south as the tip of Florida so not all corns see a winter. Seperate them, or she will mate again which is a huge drain on a females already drained system. She may still lay a second clutch with retained sperm, but if you can prevent it by not letting them mate again the better off.

She is going to go into shed right away, give her somewhere humid to relax and rest in and take the male out so he doesnt bother her, you can try offering her a small fuzzy or hopper but she may not take it. She will be very hungry though once she sheds, give her a little extra to get her weight back up and watch her closely to see if she becomes gravid again.

[DaemoNox]

The eggs look fertile; its impossible to tell if the female is a cream but if you got her as one then thats probably it. The male is a normal.

[unclejay]

so i was misled by the term okeetee pastel(he said something about the thin black outline). thats info on the creamsicle not being a hybrid. i am gonna try my luck at hatching the eggs, i was thinking about raising mice for feeders does anyone else do this.

thanks daemonox

[DaemoNox]

All okeetees are are selectivly bred normals for deep reds and oranges and thick borders.

Breeding mice for feeders for only a few snakes is a pain, you'll be spending more money and time with the mice then with the snakes; and mice stink. Its really only economical if you have a ton of snakes too feed, otherwise your better off money-wise buying a few months worth of frozen at a time.

[gonesnakee]

Originally Posted by DaemoNox

All okeetees are are selectivly bred normals for deep reds and oranges and thick borders.

Yes & No. ANY Cornsnake taken from the Okeetee region is an Okeetee & the only "true" ones can be traced back to WC parents from that region & they typically look as described. Eggs are fertile, paper is the worst substrate for them. You want perelite or vermiculite & get some egg crate for them to sit on as they will do much better if they are not in contact with the substrate. You can then keep the substrate as moist as you want with no issues other than watching the lid for buildup & possibly drippage. 60 days at 80-85F is good yep. As mentioned one of ypur snakes is an intergrade, but all Hybrids ar not infertile. Most hybrid Colubrids are totally fertile & can be bred together or back to the parent species very successfully. Mark
P.S. pick up another complete setup for the other snake. Group housing is a BAD way to keep your snakes. Unwanted breedings is only one of the many negatives. There are NO positives for the snakes by group housing. Only positives are for you saving $ & space, neither of which helps the snakes in any way.

[DaemoNox]

Yet they are still normals; the whole Okeete phase vs locality thing; very few people are actually into the true locale (and those into it would know exactly what they had, not needing to ask what it is) so I just generalise and assume most mean the okeetee phase when they're talking about it.

Too moist substrate the eggs will absorb too much of it and not be able to handle it, probably one of the most common ways people loose good eggs.

Responsible housing together doesnt save you space or money either, because you should have an extra complete setup on hand anyways just incase they need to be seperated immediatly.

[gonesnakee]

Originally Posted by DaemoNox

Too moist substrate the eggs will absorb too much of it and not be able to handle it, probably one of the most common ways people loose good eggs.

Thus having the eggs up on the eggcrate. You can incubate with sanding water as a medium as long as the eggs are not in direct contact with it. Cheers Mark
P.S. too dry will also kill the eggs, thats why I like eggcrate, keep em as wet as ya like

[unclejay]

well two eggs have hatched so far! they were two days apart is this normal?

i didnt expect the baby's to look like tis at all but its friggin awesome i am stoked. 6 of the 11 eggs shiveled up like rasins and got real hard but i had four that seemed ok. some time about a week ago they started to dimple

so a wached them and then on thursday afternoon i checked on them and one was completely hatched but no signs of pipping on the others untill saturday morning when i got up i checked and one was pipping then this morning it was hatched. still no sing of any pipping on the other two but im hopefull. any ideas on what these baby's are called all i know is this is the coolest thing i have ever seen

Thanks for all the advice Jason

[Aaron_S]

Looks like a cornsnake to me. I got no clue on their morphs.

[gonesnakee]

Its a regular. Its colors will come in & change considerably over the next 6-12 months, Mark

[unclejay]

ok so that makes more sense there color will change over time. is there any way to breed these that i have parents or offspring in any combination to get something other than normal. is there any way i can chart out a Punnett square without know any more than i do about the parents. this just fasinates me

thanks, jason

[Aaron_S]

What you got is what you got man. You can't go making something that you don't have. Although, if you DO have a creamsicle then these babies are het for creamsicle and when bred to another het or a creamsicle should produce some.