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Eggs!

V

Vikkie@corn

New member
Hello. I'm new to the forum and new to keeping snakes. My corn snake has suddenly layed a clutch of eggs, some she is laying on and some she has kicked out of her den. She has not been in contact with any other snakes, is there any chance any of these can be fertile? And how am I best dealing with her and the eggs as I don't want to upset her.
 
If she has been bred previously, she may have retained sperm. If the eggs are opaque white and firm to the touch, they may well be fertile. If they are off colored and feel a little squishy, they are probably just slugs. Although rare, if she hasn't been bred before, snakes can produce viable eggs through parthenogenesis. This happened to the breeder that I work with once before and all of the babies were identical to the mother. Again, really rare, and probably unlikely.
 
Thank you so much for the reply, if they are slugs am I best removing them from her? She's being quite protective over them and I'm worried about stressing her out, she hasn't eaten anything in 3 weeks now and I'm worried if I remove them she might not eat again.
 
If they're slugs, they should be removed. Even if they are viable, removing and incubating them would be best. Once the eggs are removed and she's had her post lay shed, try offering a small meal. How long has it been since she dropped the eggs?
 
About 24 hours ago since she layed them now, she's sticking to her den and laying on them though and she won't leave them.
 
Not eating while gravid is completely normal for a corn. We use skipped meals as an initial indicator that our gals are gravid. She should have a post lay shed here in the near future. Did you raise your corn or is it possible she was bred by a previous owner?
 
Only got her 6 months ago but it was previously my friends snake and I know she was never bred before, her behaviour changed 2 weeks prior to her laying she became really restless and then she went into her den 3 days ago then suddenly the eggs appeared around 24 hours ago, just don't want to stress her out as she's really guarding the ones she's layed on.
 
Odds are she laid slugs, which isn't unusual. It's breeding season and snakes are hardwired to reproduce, as are most animals. I'd pull the eggs/slugs, let her go through her post lay shed and get her eating again. The likelihood that the eggs are viable is slim, but you can definitely look at them and see how they feel.
 
Vikkie@corn said:
Only got her 6 months ago but it was previously my friends snake and I know she was never bred before, her behaviour changed 2 weeks prior to her laying she became really restless and then she went into her den 3 days ago then suddenly the eggs appeared around 24 hours ago, just don't want to stress her out as she's really guarding the ones she's layed on.
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Hi Vikkie!!

Congrats on the eggs! Sorry I didn't notice this posting before, but before you do anything impulsive with those eggs, in the rare event they are fertile, if you overturn them too abruptly, you might drown the embryo inside the egg. You have to gently remove them and candle them (hold up to a bright flashlight to determine if they are fertile, in which case you will see blood vessels or veins branching out) and gently place them into the appropriate medium (vermiculite, hatchrite, or dampened/soaked and wrung out sphagnum moss) and in a container which will serve as an incubator (sealed with a temp of 82-87 degrees with 70-80% humidity - these are approximates and you can find more specific and detailed info in the stickies in this section or if you do a search).

Also, the snake who just laid them is exhausted and most probably dehydrated (offer fresh water asap) but I doubt she is "guarding" the eggs like many other animals would. She might shake her tail at you or appear irritable, but I've never heard of a snake who laid eggs actually biting someone who took them, though I'd love to hear anyone's experience that is different.

Then I would offer a mouse one size smaller than she is used to eating (I learned this only recently thanks to the wonderful snake lovers in this very forum!) and you can bump the size up in a week or so and gradually get her back to her normal weight and size.

Just a couple of suggestions! (Hope I didn't post them too late!).
 
Great thank you. I left her overnight to settle down. So I'll be sorting her out today, I'll definitely check to see if her eggs are viable when I remove them, thank you for the advice, I've given her water and will offer her food later on once I've removed the eggs. Thank you for all the advice!
 
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