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What should I expect

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Dragon061505	What should I expect	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1 (01/03/08 10:38:14) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None Hello everyone, I am new to the forums, and looking for some advice. I have kept snakes for a very long time but never breed them. I wanted to take the next step and breed them. I have an adult pair of Kofiau island GTP's. So I cooled the female and stuck them together and observed them matting several times...so thinking that I should be seeing the female swell in a few weeks from this activity I realized that my lack of experience with hatching these lovely little ones and might need some help. questions: 1. Should I let the parent incubate the eggs...and if so what should the temp/RH in the cage be? 2. If I decide to incubate the eggs what is the best way to do this? what is the best incubator to use and what tools for the incubator do I need, probes etc...what temps and humidity etc... 3. Now I have dealt with Retic's for a while and well once they lay the eggs the mother will attempt to kill you if you bother her...what can I expect from the GTP mother...? 4. What is the best way to take the mother off the eggs if we incubate? any and all tips that everyone can share would be GREATLY appreciated... Dragon061505
Brandon Osborne		#1	[-]
Posts: 93 (01/03/08 14:31:22) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Try this link and look under the Reproduction bar. This should answer any question you have. I would suggest getting the book as well. It is a great reference tool. Congrats and good luck. Brandon Osborne
Dragon061505		#2	[-]
Posts: 2 (01/04/08 09:11:16) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I have read all that i can from his site but it does not describe what I am needing to know. is it better to incubate or to let the mom do it... what is the best way to incubate the eggs in substrate or with the 0 substrate method... what can i expect from the mother if we remove her from the eggs...and then what is the best way to do that... not asking for the comunity to tell me this is the only way...but for opinions and the "this is how I do it" answers... thanks again in advance..
Kim Burge		#3	[-]
Posts: 1304 (01/07/08 18:49:57) ezOP Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Greg's page does give you information on the questions that you have so that you can make up your mind what techniques you would like to use. I'd really recommend Greg Maxwell's "The More Complete Chondro" for detailed information about breeding, temps, and other great info. I still refer to it quite often. Did you not cycle both the male and the female? If not, I think it is actually more important to cycle the male than it is the female as this is known to increase sperm counts, motility, etc. I hope that you'll see some swelling from the female in a few weeks but it could take longer to be patient. Patience gets harder and harder with each step of the breeding process. I look forward to one day allowing a female to incubate her own eggs but at this point I do it artificially no-substrate. You'll ask others and they swear by using substrate others will start off no-substrate and switch them onto substrate during incubation. I use a cool style incubator that I made myself but the front opening incubators work really well, too. What did you have in mind to use? Yes, you can expect mom to not be happy when you take her off the eggs. Use a towel to block her from seeing you and use it to gently grab her behind the head. Then, have someone help you unravel her from the egg pile. Good luck and let us know how it goes! Kim Burge Southern Chondros kimberly@southernchondros.com
Mike C		#4	[-]
Posts: 86 (01/08/08 07:47:02) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I'll try to answer some of your questions from my ideas as a new breeder. 1) Last year was my first year at breeding, and I attempted to let the female incubate them on her own, without success. She did everything perfect, and then up and abandoned the eggs. They were too dry and they all died. Horrible experience and it was really depressing to work so hard to have it all end that way. Lessons learned. This year, another female is laying her first clutch AS I TYPE:). I have an incubator set up and running, primed and ready. I pan on pulling her off the eggs later today to incubate them myself. Here's a pic from last year's mother after she laid. 2) Damon Salcies has a great website that has a good incubator design that is proven to work. Mine is based on his design somewhat, but is an IGLOO ice chest, with 2 foot of 12" heat tape hooked up to a Helix thermostat. There is a tub of water with two computer fans above it circulating the air. Above it is a tray holding my nest box. For some reason I feel comfortable using 1" of damp vermiculite ith a thin layer of perlite over top of it, with a top and ventilation holes drilled in the side. This is all new to me but it seems to have the necessities the eggs will need. 3) If you have pulled Retics of eggs I wouldn't worry. I've heard Chondros can be downright NASTY to pull off eggs, but I couldn't imagine it would compare to a retic. I'll let you know later today after I have experienced it. Some use towels to help cover the female. 4) Same as above, maybe a towel over her with the help of another person to grab the eggs when you pull her of of them. I think Greg Maxwell recommends two people in his book(great read if you don't own it, I consider it my bible on Chondros) Good luck, Mike ____________________________________________________________ / Mike C / mclark202@insightbb.com / / _______________________________________________________/

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