[kaikara]

I was wondering what you hatch rates were like. This was my first year with vipers and I originally incubated 14 eggs and had only one not hatch. I was able to sell 12 all at once so I decided to incubate some more. The second set was incubated the same way as the first but I had a way lower hatch rate. Only about 75 percent hatched.

I also had a couple hatchlings die this time. They are all kept exactly the same in rack system. the first 3 pairs did fine but i lost one from the 4th and one from the 5th. They just seemed never to start eating and wasted away. I tried different food - fruit flys, pinhead and 1/8th crickets but nothing seemed to work.

Just wondered what other's experiences were.

[hofud]

Hello

I had 18 hatched vipers this year and four died. Two were sick and weak. (Every egg hatched. what I left to hatch) I had many more eggs but I had to throw them out for some reason. I guess a healthy female can lay around 25-30 eggs and almost or all can hatch with very few death ratio. After that time she needs some rest I think. If the hathlings are weak incapable of living no matter what you do you loose them. The viper eggs can hatch even in the terrarium. I had six of them who hatch this way. I mention that if you leave them in the tank maybe the female could eat them up. I lost this way two other babies, or at least I have not found them just the open eggs.
This is not a big science. I had two other who hatched in the tank too. I move out from my flat and move the tank with the substrate and I did not know that there were two more eggs. After a time I saw them and removed them from the tank and both hatched few weeks later. I think that the hatching rate depends not just on the enviroment but the parents' genes.

ps
Its a considerable notion to keep just a female group without a male.
If a male gets in somehow you have to be prepared with tons of boxes and food for you babies.

[kaikara]

Your death rate is about the same as mine. I guess I was just lucky with the first set that I didn't have any die. Maybe as the year goes on the females become weaker and the eggs and hatchlings they produce can be weaker. I incubated 14 the first set, hatched 13 and all survived.

Second set I incubate 14, only 9 hatched and of those I have had two deaths so far. One of the other hatchlings is kind of iffy. He is not really growing like the others but is pooping and eating so only time will tell.

Thanks for the info. This was my first year breeding these and I wanted to make sure everything was good.