Help! Corn laid eggs through Parthenogenesis!

Hello,

I just came back from vacation to find that my 4-5 year old corn laid 6 eggs parthenogentically. I didn't even know that was a thing!

One of the eggs was in the water dish and is soft and 2x larger then the other eggs. Is the soaked egg bad? It is soft and large but none of them smell like they are rotting.

When moving them initially I thought they were odd chunks of regurgitated mouse so they may have been rotated on accident.

The temperature in my house stays a consistent 70-74 degree (i don't use a heat lamp for my corn). Is this VITAL to incubating or will they hatch in such temperatures?

I did the "Flame Test" and I can't see any veins but I'm not sure how old they are anyways.

When will I be able to tell if they are fertile? Will I know if they are not fertile (rotting, color, odor)?

Thanks,

Update-

After a bit of research, it seems like only 2 out of the 6 eggs may be fertile still. The others are discolored.

How often can a corn snake mommy lay eggs?

Will the two fertile eggs be fine without a heat lamp? I don't plan on buying one.

Thanks,

Has your corn snake ever been co-habituated with a male that was sexually mature? If not then this is something a female snake can do but is like a lady with a fals pregnancy or like a chicken laying eggs. The eggs are all slugs and none will hatch. It will take a while for them to start to stink or cause real problems. If she has been with a sexually mature male before then it is possible for them to have mated, her not lay eggs that time due to stress or other environmental issues and retain sperm for years. Then once she feels the time is right lay some eggs. Let us know her history with men and we can help better.

eggs must be fertile to be viable. This is true for Humans, Chickens, Snakes or any other animal. If the snake has not bred with a male, then the eggs will not hatch. Gather them up and throw them in the trash.

If the female is new to you, she may have been with a male previously, they can retain sperm.
If your female has not been with a male, the eggs won't be fertile. Even if they were, the one in the water is not viable.
Females can lay infertile eggs. I have found out a male was actually a female, when (s)he matured and laid eggs.

My female is not new, I've had her since she was a little noodle with no interactions with other snakes/males.

Correct me if I'm wrong here... I was under the impression that parthenogenesis was a process in which a female can lay viable eggs without having a male present to fertilize... much like a komodo dragon.

I have chickens so I'm perfectly aware of the whole egg/fertilization process, I was just under the impression it was possible for the eggs to be fertile without a male.

Anyways, will my female be laying these infertile eggs often?

After having another day to process this all and take a good look at the eggs.. i'm 99.9% they are all infertile.

Thanks,

Yea unlike some lizard and amphibian species cornsnakes are not known for asexual reproduction or parthenogenesis.

So should I be expecting my female to regularly lay infertile eggs much like a chicken? Or how often would my corn be laying these infertile eggs?

I never knew this about snakes so sorry for my ignorance by my mind is blown!

All of my female snakes have never really done this so I see it as a rare thing some females will do it once or twice a year so I'm never doing in their lifetime just depends on the corn snake

Most females of sufficient maturity will ovulate yearly regardless of whether a male is around, and some will lay infertile eggs every time while others will always absorb. Then you'll have the rare female that always absorbed but suddenly started laying, or vice versa. We don't really know what controls it.

We've had a couple reports of parthenogenesis with cornsnakes, here, that seemed plausible. I can't recall if hatchlings were ever produced, or if these accounts were verified. It has occured in other snake species. Infertile "slugs" can look VERY fertile, and can last out 60-70 days of incubation before not hatching.

I'm not aware of any proven cases. In the ones I've heard of, it ended up being retained sperm or the eggs never hatched. I've had a couple females lay eggs without being with a male. They weren't fertile, and didn't hatch.