WA BHP eggs, Working through the emotions.

[solar 17]

l have been using water over to incubate for a long time and my personal experience is that 31.5 - 31.8 will help you obtain 94-98% humidity [wet bulb] which l believe would be close to the required humidty, don't forget your eggs are going to generate some extra heat close to their natural pipping date......solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Snakewise84]

has there been any movement from the at all. cause that one u holding the flap open is looking ok.

 

[Owzi]

Hey cement,
Like others have said- I wouldn't give up on them yet. I also use the water meathod for incubation & hatched a clutch of BHPs this year. The first one pipped on day 60, I incubated them at 31-32 deg.
I'd also just like to say I no longer pip my eggs. I did in the past & found they almost always pip another area of the egg anyway & make their own way out. If I were to pip any eggs, I would only do it after some of the eggs had began to "naturally" pip. When you think about it- whats the chances of the whole clutch not having an egg tooth or the strength to come out on thier own?

Best of luck,
Andrew

 

[cement]

Thanks again, Big Guy and Baden
Temps are now back to 30-31.
If I had just left them alone like I usually do with other species none of this would have happened.
Too much human interaction for my liking.

I have only ever pipped when others start to hatch in the past, for same reason Owzi, but well.. first time around with blackheads, read some info....made wrong move.

Oh well, whats done is done, i'll let you know the results either way, hopefully others may learn from my mistakes.

cheers

 

[PilbaraPythons]

I would recomend pipping at around 66 days if incubated at 31.5 and they are a no show. A friend has just hatched out 2 Pilbara BHPs but had a drama as well, 3 out of 5 eggs did not hatch and on day 69 were piped only to discover 3 fully developed critters with evidence on the inside of the egg of unsuccessful efforts to cut through with their egg tooth.
Bottom line, he should of went with his instinct and taken action on day 66.

 

[PilbaraPythons]

By the way, if the book telling you the average incubation period wa 58 days, then what was the recomended tempreture ? I would imagine it must have been up around 32 plus a little ?

 

[1stima]

best of luck buddy!

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

I would just leave them alone. The last thing you need is for them to crawl out of the eggs without absorbing their yolk properly. This will cause a whole lot of other dramas, like not having their first shed. Close the flaps and leave them, don't disturb them. They will think it's hatch time if you keep opening the lid to see if they are ok.

 

[zulu]

By the way, if the book telling you the average incubation period wa 58 days, then what was the recomended tempreture ? I would imagine it must have been up around 32 plus a little ?

Hi pilbarra,the book says 30-32C which is standard,i do mine at 31C in vermiculite and they hatched in 56 and 59 days.Best to wait till they pip because averages are made from the short and the tall and you need a reliable indicator.

From the looks of those eggs i wouldnt be worried,they have been opened neatly and not too much.

 

[AM Pythons]

from the pics they look like they should be fine.. i cut mine last year a week early, they all were fine... good luck..

 

[cement]

Yep it was day 60 I had as the estimated day, Then i read the info on day 63 and it said (from memory) average 58 latest 65, always pip on day 60 which increased survival (to that effect).

I mulled it over and decided i better cut them on those facts, given the experience of the author. As i figured that I was possibly already up to 5 days over...

Its all up to them now, I have them set at 30 -31 It looks like the albumen forms a little bit of a seal, I closed the cuts as best i could last night and haven't or won't be touching them again until i know one way or the other. Apart from the cutting I only looked in 4 eggs at the time, 2 looked good, 2 looked under developed. Surprisingly, The major veins that you see when you candle, on at least one egg came free of the shell and remained intact while the cut shell lifted off the membrane that holds the veins. And i opened the one to take the photo last night when putting back in.
I don't like opening egg containers and playing with them, and I never weigh eggs because i don't like to interact with them at all, much preferring for them to just do what they do on their own.
Today is day 65 so as long as I haven't killed them by spiking the temps for a couple of hours it may not be as bad as i first thought. If they do die now I would say it was the increase in temps that knocked them.
Hopefully they have inherited their fathers aggressive stance on life...

 

[FAY]

I am sure they will be fine cement.

 

[pythons73]

Unless you have dead neonates..THERES ALWAYS A CHANCE they will survive..I truely hope they do as i no how much they mean to you,I hope in a few days,theres a new Thread about Hatchie WA BHPs by you..Fingers crossed...

 

[Jk888]

all a learning process mate just think ull never make this mistake again

 

[JasonL]

I just through mine in a tub, without any date on them and let them pip themselves... When you don't know when you put them in then your not stressed by them not hatching lol.... I even tried to stuff them up by taking the lid off the tub and going away for three days until they were really sunken in.... all 6 hatched no worries

 

[andysnakes]

Cement, hands on experience is better than anything you will learn in a text book. that's the way i look at it.. that pic you posted looks ok to me, she'll be right mate
Andy

 

[Nicole74]

Good Luck..

 

[GreatSnakes]

Not sure if you tried, but when I pip eggs, I give the babies a prod with the scissors and they always move. If you arent sure, give them a gentle prod with something like a sexing probe and if they move, they should hatch just fine - Good Luck

 

[Allan]

Different incubation times have been given in this thread. My QLD BHPs hatch day 61, but the WA BHP day 80 , both at 31.5 degrees.
Hopefully the temp increase hasn't done any damage. Dave Barker gave a talk in Sydney some 10 years ago about incubation temps and told about when he changed the temp one degree midterm and all the eggs died. However, most breeders have had the odd hot day with the temp going higher. I don't think opening the eggs at this late stage would have any negative effects at all. Best of luck and keep us posted, the feeling when the first hatchling is out is great. WA BHPs are so special.

 

[cement]

Different incubation times have been given in this thread. My QLD BHPs hatch day 61, but the WA BHP day 80 , both at 31.5 degrees.

This has crossed my mind too. If there is a difference between the two, as the person I originally got them from said his inc period was between 70 -80 days. But I think he runs his incubator a tad cooler then most, at a very stable 30.