Virgin Corn Laid Fertile Eggs!

Virgin births

My snake gave birth a suprise unmated birth to 15 eggs last year but due to her timing ( I was on the way to the airport for a two week holiday) they were not viable but veined, she is now showing signs of being gravid again, still no chance of being mated, what are the chances of the eggs being viable? also at what time after you can feel the eggs are the snakes are they likey to be born (I put a nest box in now just in case) I'm not sure I want babies but want to give them the best chance and will source an incubator. But wow! two maybe? clutches with parentthogenis(sp) wow!

Cindy said:

My snake gave birth a suprise unmated birth to 15 eggs last year but due to her timing ( I was on the way to the airport for a two week holiday) they were not viable but veined, she is now showing signs of being gravid again, still no chance of being mated, what are the chances of the eggs being viable? also at what time after you can feel the eggs are the snakes are they likey to be born (I put a nest box in now just in case) I'm not sure I want babies but want to give them the best chance and will source an incubator. But wow! two maybe? clutches with parentthogenis(sp) wow!

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This may start something but I first have two questions for you. 1 - do you cohabitate your snakes and 2 are you sure that both snakes are female? Are you positive that they were viable last year and not just started looking ok and then actually weren't? I know it's possible for eggs to look good at first but then definately go bad and not actually be fertile. I am interested to see what some of the people that have been breeding longer think though.

~Katie

Virgin Birth

ABLSLOLUTLY no chance of any other meet with a male, last contact with another snake wouldd have have been three years she was approx one then? can I feel eggs? but she in not eating i feel nine disstrict bumps, shes not eating and very active?

Wasn't there a decussion about whether or not corns can retain sperm? I might be thinking of a different board. But if they can, might that be a possibility?

Cindy said:

My snake gave birth a suprise unmated birth to 15 eggs last year but due to her timing ( I was on the way to the airport for a two week holiday) they were not viable but veined, she is now showing signs of being gravid again, still no chance of being mated, what are the chances of the eggs being viable? also at what time after you can feel the eggs are the snakes are they likey to be born (I put a nest box in now just in case) I'm not sure I want babies but want to give them the best chance and will source an incubator. But wow! two maybe? clutches with parentthogenis(sp) wow!

Click to expand...

First of all, this original thread is over 3 years old. You can start a new thread on a similar topic if it so warrants it.

Secondly, most females will ovulate even if not brumated, and some of those will even lay an entire clutch of infertile eggs. I believe that most of those females that develop follicles simply reabsorb them, but there are always a bunch that enjoy laying clutches of slugs.

I would quite honestly expect that your eggs from last year were simply a clutch of slugs and not a clutch of fertile eggs from a female that was never mated.

To add my pennyworth to this thread. I had a female Snowcorn who was considered to be a runt of the clutch she was hatched from. undersized and a poor feeder. I kept her back and cared for her but although her appetite did increase a little she never got to any real size and she never got to be much bigger than a yearling. Consequently, she was not part of my breeding plans as I considered her to be far too small. At around 7 years of age, she refused a mouse one week and I thought nothing of this a couple of weeks later she shed then a further 10 days on she laid 7 small eggs Then within the day she passed away. It was almost as though she knew she was going and produced eggs before she died. I incubated those 7 eggs and five went full term and hatched and all were amels, 4 were male one was female. At the time I had just read an article by some imminent expert on parthenogenesis in a wildlife magazine. I contacted him and told him what had happened, he actually gave me a hard time about the event and said I was mistaken and that the undersize female MUST have been mated accidentally with an Amelanistic male. (never happened) he also said that all the young should have been all-female and exact clones of the mother. He refused to believe anything I told him. I have kept all the offspring and they are doing very well. I will be keeping a good watch over the lone female - just in case!.