Do corns guard eggs?

[ForkedTung]

The question of : Do cornsnakes guard their eggs? came up in another thread and some ideas were bounced around about whether they do or not. So far we have:

Cornsnakes don't "guard" their eggs.

Why do they push your hand so hard when you try to remove their eggs? (especially considering their state of exhaustion)I also think I just saw a post with pics where a guy was bitten while removing his corn's eggs. I understand that corns are "lay em' and leave em' " unlike BP's, but couldn't that temporary semi-aggressive behavior be considered guarding?

Because they're exhausted and don't want to be disturbed. Expending energy on getting you to leave them alone is a good use of limited energy for them.

Have you ever made a woman who's just given birth, get out of bed and go for a walk? Trust me - that'd get you bitten!

What do you think?

[Roy Munson]

I don't know if we can call the defensive behavior that female corns display right after egg-laying "egg-guarding". Female corns abandon the eggs within a few days of laying anyway, so I still wouldn't categorize them as "egg-guarders". :shrugs:

[crackerhead]

If they did "guard" their eggs they do a lousy job. I've stolen more eggs than I care to recall from momma snakes that were coiled around their clutch. I was successful ever time with not a single scratch. When I think of guarding offspring momma bears come to mind, not corn snakes! LOL
Terri

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Female corns abandon the eggs within a few days of laying anyway, so I still wouldn't categorize them as "egg-guarders". :shrugs:

EXACTLY. You have to keep in mind we take the eggs from the mothers and artificially incubate. If you were to leave a clutch of eggs with mama Cornsnake she would eventually abandon them and they would dry up. Ever leave for vacation with some gravid females still holding onto their eggs and then come back to find mum chilling away from the eggs and the eggs all dried up?

Ball Pythons on the other hand maternally incubate (if you allow them), so they could be considered "egg-guarders."

[kathylove]

I asked Bill if his extensive field herping experience gives him any insight into the behavior of wild corns. But he said he has not found either abandoned corn eggs, or corns with their eggs, so can't say for sure about wild corns. However, we (or friends) have found abandoned eggs of other colubrids (racers, mainly) that were left by their mothers to hatch alone.

As far as captivity, yes, the females are often defensive when the eggs are taken. But I think mothers of any species might not be in a mood to be bothered shortly after giving birth or laying eggs! I normally collect the eggs within a day or two of them being laid, so mom doesn't get a chance to abandon them. And they are usually laid in a nest box, which is exactly where mom likes to stay, eggs or not, especially since she will go right into shed after laying. But in those rare cases that I did not have a nest box in the cage for some reason, I have rarely found mom coiled around the eggs. Usually they are either deposited in or under the water bowl, or just left randomly around the cage, especially if infertile. But I can't actually remember finding her coiled around them as I usually find her in the nest box.

That is about as far as my observations go. My conclusions are that wild corns may well stay with their eggs until mom sheds, since they probably lay them in a moist place conducive to shedding. And that she is probably in a bad mood until after she sheds, and that she probably leaves them after shedding. However, this is all just conjecture based on my captive observations, which are based on limited available choices for the female. I don't know if anyone actually has a "real" answer to the question.