Dianne, I have been keeping the backup eggs at room temp, as long as you do not refridgerate the eggs they will remain viable for several weeks( so I have been told) I only hold mine for 2 weeks tops, and have had very good luck with hatching, that is before the snake infestation. There is going to be a major cleaning of the woods behind the pens this fall.
And I think it is correct that snakes regurgitate what they cannot digest, However not being able to digest any of golf ball has me hoping it will choke on it. So a story on PBS or discovery channel were some pet snake swallowed golf balls and the operated on it to remove the golf balls otherwise it would have died. Thats were I got the idea to put golf balls in with the fertile eggs.