![]() It should be large enough to contain the coiled snake, but small enough that when the female is incubating her body can touch the sides. I like to provide a nestbox a few weeks before the eggs are due. If the gravid female python is to be allowed to incubate her own eggs, then some preparations need to be made in advance on the part of the keeper. Incubating female pythons are constantly monitoring temperature and moisture levels of their eggs and making adjustments throughout the incubation period. This moisture can be conserved if a female coils tightly around her eggs, or it can be allowed to escape if she opens her coils. The respiration of the eggs themselves generates some moisture. Incubating female pythons are also able to influence moisture in the environment immediately around the eggs by behavioral means. After the eggs are laid the female covers them completely with her body. ![]() Wild females select nesting sites based on several factors, including security, temperature fluctuation and moisture level. Incubating females of these species bask until they raise their body temperature and then return to the eggs to transfer the heat to them. Other species, such as spotted pythons, ball pythons and carpet pythons, can influence incubation temperatures through behavioral means. In both cases the snake’s body and the eggs themselves are maintained in a very narrow range of temperatures despite changes in the ambient temperature. ![]() Reticulated pythons, African rock pythons and others accomplish the same increase in body temperature without these visible contractions. ![]() Strangely, even though pythons are cold-blooded animals, female pythons of several species have the ability to raise their body temperatures through physiological means and maintain it throughout the incubation period.īurmese pythons contract their muscles in a rhythmic shivering or twitching to generate heat. All pythons coil tightly around their eggs throughout incubation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |