Ethical question about snake eggs

[liljunie]

A friend of mine has had two corn snakes for a few years. Both were hatchlings when bought (both male) (ha,ha). Well last August Sergio laid 13 eggs. We threw together an incubator and got 9 hatchlings. (5 normal, 5 albino). I kept one albino and we did not know what to do with the rest. We ended up giving them to a local reptile store. NOW here is the question-the snakes are still together and will have eggs again-should we incubate or not.
thanks so much!!

[RyanR]

well if they are producing the eggs without any ill effects on the snakes it wouldnt hurt to produce again... BUT many here would NOT advice about housing 2 corn snakes together because of all the potential risks.... the major one being canibalism... as for giving them to a petstore... thats risky since most pet stores dont take propper care of there animals.. so next time if you do get hatchlings.. come on here try to sell them or even find locals to give them to that will take the time and care to properly take care of theese snakes.. im sure if you really needed to get rid of them you could post them for free on this site and just make the person that wants them Pay shipping... all are better options then a petstore IMO...

and as for housing hatchlings.. next time just go out and buy some heat wire (like 4$ per foot) and some small sterlyte or any other plastic container drill holes so air can circulate... and set up a small rack system untill you find them a home.. if you have any more questions about a rack system please post here and we will happily answer your questions. :grin01:

[Roy Munson]

It doesn't sound like you and your friend are really into the breeding thing, so there's no point in taxing the female to produce eggs that you really don't want anyway. This sounds like a good enough reason to keep the snakes in separate enclosures. If the ethical question is whether you're obligated to incubate eggs that you produce, I'd say that you're ahead of yourself. I think that first, you have to ask if it's ethical to make a female pay the biological cost of producing eggs that you don't want. In my opinion, it is not. :)

[Blue Apple Herps]

I'd say you and your friend should practice safe snake sex and separate the two. If they're not mating, then there aren't any eggs, no ethical questions about whether or not to hatch them.

[vanderkm]

While I don't disagree that it is preferable to separate the pair if you don't want offspring, just separating the female from the male will not guarantee that she won't lay eggs - they just won't be fertile ones.

Female corns (especially if housed where they are exposed to males in the same room, not the same cage) will often lay slugs (infertile eggs) and these can be as taxing to the female as production of fertile eggs. The production of a clutch of slugs can also result in females becoming eggbound, as they can be difficult to pass.

Just to clarify that separating them won't completely prevent egg laying - still likely the best solulation in this case,

mary v.

[Fatman608]

Roy stated my opinion very well in his post.

[ghosthousecorns]

I agree that the snakes in quesion should not be kept together.
My feeling on the eggs is that you are under no moral obligation to incubate them. I had a female double clutch last year that I did not incubate her second batch of eggs. I had my hands full with babies from the first clutches and so I discarded about a dozen perfectly good eggs. I would have had no place to house them, and I already had a lot on my plate just feeding, cleaning etc with the snakes I already had. . I also felt mixed about producing more normals, amels, anerys and snows...there are already a lot out there.