Female woma is about to drop a clutch ;)

[benjamind2010]

But there seems to be just one small problem. She's pushing underneath the carpet (it came on a roll and is a lot like astroturf) that I laid down into her tub so that the clutch wouldn't glue itself to the floor of her tub.

The tub isn't really glossy at all, it's more of a low sheen tub with a satiny finish, and it's made from HDPE I think. But it's still plastic and I'm told plastic and eggs often bond.

I am a bit concerned that if the eggs stick to the tub I'll get hosed and just end up losing the clutch, since it'll most likely be laid at the warm end of the tub.

Is there anything that I can do to help avoid this risk?

I have an incubator set up, with a good digital thermostat that keeps the air and substrate inside firmly between 29 and 31 degrees. with perlite with a small amount of water mixed to provide some very slight moisture as I believe woma eggs can succumb to excessive moisture over time. Trouble is, if the eggs stick to the tub I'm afraid they'll be stuck there and she'll have to incubate them the natural way...but I'm just concerned about the heat.

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Yep. She's so stubborn. I laid it down in a different way, and she just put herself under the carpet. It was stuff from bunnings, with a thin rubbery back, and looked like astroturf but only much finer. 14$ wasted. Next time I'll have to create a custom built laying box with the stuff literally weighed down with heavy bricks. She's very determined to have her way, so it looks like I might lose the eggs this time around - unless the humidity and temps are kept within a narrow margin I can't see her incubating them herself successfully - but I should never underestimate a female woma, if she's smart enough to lift up the entire tub floor of carpet and crawl underneath it, she should be good enough to incubate them on her own.

That is, of course, if they are laid and I can't get to them quick enough. I know she's about to drop, she has a bulge right near her vent, so it's either gotta be tonight/early morning or night tomorrow or early Friday morning. There's no way she'll be holding past Friday.

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Ok, I hear that it is possible to separate them from the tub floor, but I'm still concerned with possible adhesions. Maybe the eggs won't stick to the floor of the tub and I'll be able to get them to the incubator easily.

I'm only concerned because I hear womas and BHPs tend to spread a small area of the floor of any substrate and drop their clutches in the cleared area.

 

[Beans]

An even easier way. Is to get some soft or something, paper towel even. get a smaller tub with a lid and cut a hole in the side for a dark laybox. Put that in there

 

[benjamind2010]

Thanks for the advice, she hasn't dropped yet. I bet she'll drop within the next 2 days.

 

[creaturesofhabit]

Dosnt matter you put in there she is going yo push it up the sides of the box..never bred woma but with all my bhp I use a Styrofoam box with sphagnum moss inside I've trialed damp newspaper but the moss seemed liked better. They will push it up the sides and lay eggs in the middle on the floor of the tub..never had any issues with the eggs sticking to the ground. In my opinion plastic tubs are not ideal lay boxes as the hole that you cut in the side creates and thin sharp edge that can damage belly scales as the female will be in and out of the box many times before she decides it's time to drop eggs

 

[benjamind2010]

Thanks for whoever suggested a styrofoam box. I've taken out the old plastic laying box, and replaced it with a styrofoam box that I had cut off the taller parts so that it fits flush with the top of the tub.

It worked a treat. She's now cuddled up in that box. Before I used the box I washed it, then sprayed it with a dilute F10 mix so to avoid any mould, etc that may have come from any fruits that were being held in the box prior to my picking it up from the fruit store.

Everything looks set now, so it should be any day that she drops her clutch, I thought she was going to drop during the week, but it could be as far as into the weekend...fingers crossed. What I can say for sure is that a clutch is imminent. Hope they will be good eggs.

 

[creaturesofhabit]

I should proof read my posts before I submit them..my last post was missing a few words.
The only problem with getting a box from a fruit shop is the risk of pesticides. ..aquariums are better for scoring free boxes from

 

[Beans]

Dosnt matter you put in there she is going yo push it up the sides of the box..never bred woma but with all my bhp I use a Styrofoam box with sphagnum moss inside I've trialed damp newspaper but the moss seemed liked better. They will push it up the sides and lay eggs in the middle on the floor of the tub..never had any issues with the eggs sticking to the ground. In my opinion plastic tubs are not ideal lay boxes as the hole that you cut in the side creates and thin sharp edge that can damage belly scales as the female will be in and out of the box many times before she decides it's time to drop eggs

Theres an easy fix for that. Get a lighter a run the flame over the sharp edges. It rounds them off. Then just wash the box and it's good to go. Styrofoam boxes would work too though.

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Thanks for whoever suggested a styrofoam box. I've taken out the old plastic laying box, and replaced it with a styrofoam box that I had cut off the taller parts so that it fits flush with the top of the tub.

It worked a treat. She's now cuddled up in that box. Before I used the box I washed it, then sprayed it with a dilute F10 mix so to avoid any mould, etc that may have come from any fruits that were being held in the box prior to my picking it up from the fruit store.

Everything looks set now, so it should be any day that she drops her clutch, I thought she was going to drop during the week, but it could be as far as into the weekend...fingers crossed. What I can say for sure is that a clutch is imminent. Hope they will be good eggs.

Good luck

 

[benjamind2010]

Good news. She dropped a clutch and it was a decent one for her very first breeding. I won't go into any further details, but here is the booty:

7 eggs

 

[princessparrot]

I really want to try breeding my girl but mum isn't to keen...

 

[benjamind2010]

Convince your mum that breeding snakes will allow you to get some pocket money. Tell her it's not so bad, that all involved is incubating some eggs and selling the hatchlings. You could offer her a cut of any money you make from selling the hatchlings. It should be easy to do

 

[Beans]

I think she would be more worried about a maybe not being able to sell them.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[Spongy]

My missus not happy that I have about another 70 Wheatbelt hatchies on the way. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Lol

 

[benjamind2010]

I think she would be more worried about a maybe not being able to sell them.

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Really? You want to look at my RHD womas. Believe me, they will be very very sellable considering the lineage my hatchlings will be coming from. Photos are in my image gallery.

I'm unsure about princessparrot's womas, depending on quality of the parents, the offspring could fetch good prices.

I'll be pricing mine around $250, provided they are healthy.

 

[princessparrot]

My girl is an Uluru woma.
would it be safe to leave the eggs in her care or do I need to remove and incubate them myself?

 

[benjamind2010]

It depends on the temperature and humidity. If the eggs are placed right on hot end where the heat mat is underneath the enclosure, you should never leave the eggs in there, as the heat mat will fry the eggs and you'll lose them.

That's the biggest fear by far when dealing with snake eggs. They should never, ever, be left in an enclosure where the temperature cannot be reasonably expected to stay below the maximum recommended temperature, which would be about 33 degrees. If it never gets above 33, it might be safe, but even then I wouldn't count on it.

You really need an incubator set up.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Womas are hard to sell atm, I know someone who is struggling to move a breeding pair of Tanamis for 480 with free freight included Aus wide

 

[benjamind2010]

Temps in the incubator went down to only 27 degrees during the middle of the night/very early morning. But they're 31 degrees during the day.

Is there anything I can do to boot up the temps at night or should I just let the ebbs and flows take their course? I know the weather is going to get warmer during the nights, so hopefully this should become less of an issue as the summer approaches.

 

[Planky]

How's your inc set up ? Lights or heat cord

 

[benjamind2010]

Mine is a heat cord. It's a Willow brand Esky 26L.

The heat cord was basically fixed around the bottom perimeter of the Esky, and about 6 inches of perlite was placed on top of that. The thermostat probe was placed right where the eggs would be placed.

Before putting the perlite in I added a small amount of water to it, about 50mL, basically by spraying it with a mist bottle. I also had a tiny bit of F10 in the mist bottle to prevent any harmful bacteria from forming.

I've seen reports where people just used plain perlite without any water added and the womas hatched fine. Since the Esky is almost completely sealed (there is a tiny gap where the heat cord goes in through a hold I made on the base of the lid) I can't see how anything could go wrong.

But I am doing my due diligence, and will ensure that everything goes the way I would want.

I look at everything as a learning experience. Hopefully there were no mistakes made and everything works out and they hatch.

 

[Beans]

Just remember that s\while shes wrapped around them, she will be transferring alot of her heat into them

She will also be flexing her muscles alot, looks like a shiver to keep them warm. As long as they are not directly on the heat mat they should be okay.