Ive recently read that some retic breeders let the mother incubait the eggs, and that they male good mothers. Duz anyone out there do this with there retics? What are the pro's and cons?
Just out of interest

thanks

Matt.

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My Reptiles1.0.0 Royal Pythons0.1.0 Cali King Snake1.1.0 Reticulated Pythons0.1.1 Bci0.1.0 False Water Cobra 0.0.1 Western Hognose 1.1.0 Leopard Geckos 0.0.2 Asain Foam Nest Frogs 0.0.1 Emp Scorpian 0.0.1 Painted Bull Frog 0.1.0 White Stripped Bird Eater 0.1.1 Golden Flying Snake 0.0.1 Costal x Jungle Carpet Python 0.0.1 Tiger Retic 0.0.1 Vawny

I let my burmese incubate their own.
As long as the mother is in good condition and of a good weight then theres no reason to remove the eggs.

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1.1 patternless pines 1.1 honey island retic 1.1 jampea retic 1.1 kalatoa retic 1.0 albino retic 0.1 het albino retic 0.1 albino tiger retic 1.0 het albino tiger retic 1.2 albino burm 0.1 albino green burm 1.1 albino granite burm 0.1 granite het albino burm 1.1 albino het laby burm 10.5 normal 100% het albino burms(for sale) 1.2.1 boa loads of corns loads of kings loads of beardies 2.4 veiled chams 0.2 pygmy bearded chams 1.0 tortoise
New modular RUB rack systems available soon

How do you keep the humidity right and the temps right?

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my cresteds1.0 buckskin (poss dalmation)0.0.2 harlequin's
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As long as Mum has a place to lay her eggs that is just below the ideal temp for the incubation, there should be no problem on that score, and I believe that Mum does in fact do a better job of looking after her eggs, and her gentle continuous nudging of her eggs is good for the hatchlings, and I firmly believe it assists them to pip when when the time comes.The con is in keeping the correct humidity up, as Mum has no control over that as such, but with the keepers assistance, you can both work together nicely on that, and yes as well as observing other keepers that used this natural method, I have allowed my large boids to do it, and worked with them.

I noted that when Mum's coils are wrapped tightly around her eggs, that if you spray Mum directly, she will sometimes remain tightly coiled, and the water will just drop down onto the substrate around her, and on other occasions she will open her coils allowing the water to drip directly onto the eggs,at which point I have noted the eggs have been very slightly indented, and the eggs then go on to fill back out some time later, showing that they had required the extra liquid. Some times too, Mum can be observed drinking the droplets from her skin, which is so sweet to watch. Always ensure the water has reached room temperature before spraying, or to be really on the safe side as I did, use cool pre-boiled water.

I had other methods that ensured the humidity was kept up during my absence too, or between spraying, but you would need enough space away from Mum in order for my other method to work, and work it did to perfection. Something the late John Foden and Martin Gay taught me, and I know John wished he had used it the time he decided to collect all of his retic eggs up and place them in a huge plastic dustbin, and then place in his large monitors viv. I'm sure you can guess what happened. The monitor worked relentlessly until he managed to tip the dustbin on it's side and then he ate all of the eggs, and could not even move away from the crime scene afterwards.

Mo.

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"If you talk with the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
Chief Dan George (1899-1981)

What a great post

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AVATAR PHOTO TAKE BY MACRO JUNKIE
my snakes1.1 het albino boas(sharp strain)shilla(f)humpfree(m) 0.1 brb sydney(f)
my cresteds1.0 buckskin (poss dalmation)0.0.2 harlequin's
wishlistkayaudi reticjaguar carpet pythonred blood pythonfemale crested gecko
MEMBER NUMBER 13596

Thanks for the replys guys! I think i'll give this a go when i come to breed mine, it definatly sounds like mother knows best!!

Cheers!

Matt

__________________
My Reptiles1.0.0 Royal Pythons0.1.0 Cali King Snake1.1.0 Reticulated Pythons0.1.1 Bci0.1.0 False Water Cobra 0.0.1 Western Hognose 1.1.0 Leopard Geckos 0.0.2 Asain Foam Nest Frogs 0.0.1 Emp Scorpian 0.0.1 Painted Bull Frog 0.1.0 White Stripped Bird Eater 0.1.1 Golden Flying Snake 0.0.1 Costal x Jungle Carpet Python 0.0.1 Tiger Retic 0.0.1 Vawny

Thanks aceboidz.

Hi again Matt.

As you are sounding very serious about letting Mum incubate with your slight assistance, the other method referred to is using a large water bowl a little distance from Mum, and not on top of a heat source. I then hang a large towel on 2 hooks, after having soaked the towel first in tepid water, and then the water drips from the towel directly into the bowl below it. This method gives your snake the required amount of humidity to successfully incubate her eggs.

Good luck if you do go ahead, and all the time I am a member here, but maybe not on line all of the while, you can always pm me if you have further questions that go unanswered, that you think I might be able to help you with.

Mo.

Edit:- I would advise that you ensure your female has lots of newspaper down as a substrate. It will be better for her and the eggs.

__________________
"If you talk with the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
Chief Dan George (1899-1981)

I give the mother plenty of moss to nest in which helps to hold the humidity and spray her or the viv once each day at least.

__________________
1.1 patternless pines 1.1 honey island retic 1.1 jampea retic 1.1 kalatoa retic 1.0 albino retic 0.1 het albino retic 0.1 albino tiger retic 1.0 het albino tiger retic 1.2 albino burm 0.1 albino green burm 1.1 albino granite burm 0.1 granite het albino burm 1.1 albino het laby burm 10.5 normal 100% het albino burms(for sale) 1.2.1 boa loads of corns loads of kings loads of beardies 2.4 veiled chams 0.2 pygmy bearded chams 1.0 tortoise
New modular RUB rack systems available soon

I agree also that moss is great for the reasons stated, and used to use this too on occasion, on top of the newspaper.

Mo.

__________________
"If you talk with the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
Chief Dan George (1899-1981)

A few good ideas there for you now Matt, and ones that have been proved to be successful, and you could chose to use from one to all 3 at once depending on your life style and the time you have available to keep watch etc.

Mo.

__________________
"If you talk with the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."
Chief Dan George (1899-1981)