• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Help! New Girl just laid eggs.

drelladrella941

New member
I just got a new female corn snake last week. I was wondering why she wasn't eating... and I found out this morning. She laid 5 eggs. I did not now she was gravid. I don't have an incubator or anything set up. What can I do to make a makeshift incubator until I can get one? Is there anything else I should know?
 
Go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a pack of Orchid Moss. (I have a sticky down in my private forum about preparing a lay box- get that brand. It's in the garden center, in the orchid section).

Then go to Publix (or wherever) and buy a clear plastic container (with NO holes!!) of organic lettuce, remove the lettuce, rinse the container in plain non-chlorinated water. If you don't have well water at home, also buy a gallon of spring water.

Place a couple handfuls of the moss in a large bowl. Wet it with the spring water until it is completely soaked, then wring the moss out as much as possible- so it isn't even dripping. Place the moss in the lettuce container, filling it about halfway.

Place the eggs on the bed of moss. Cover them with a light layer of the dampened moss. Put the container somewhere with a stable temperature of 80F- like a cupboard or closet shelf.

Check the mama snake for any retained eggs. If you don't feel any, give her a small meal of a couple hoppers or a weanling. She will go blue immediately. Feed her again after she sheds. Feed her weekly until she is again a healthy weight.

If the mama snake has more eggs, prepare a laybox as described in my sticky in my forum, and leave her strictly alone for 24 hours.

Open the egg container once or twice a week and gently fan the eggs. Expect hatchlings, if the eggs are fertile, sometime after 60 days. You may see the eggs start to dimple about two weeks before hatching. The shells will start to feel thinner. After 60 days, I'd be checking every day or two.
 
This recently happened to me (5 days ago). I had a very tiny female I purchased off an old friend. She recently moved, and while moving had all of her corns in same container.

Month and a half after owning her, she went off food entirely.. then 5 days ago, my little Lavender female (Only 200grams..) laid 10 eggs. 8 are clear slugs, however 2 are bright pearls!

Nanci's post is gold, follow that and you're set.\
In regards to your incubator question, I've never incubated corn eggs. I keep my snake room at a steady 83degrees, so they stay perfect there.
 
It looks like there are 2 maybe good ones, and four bad ones, but I'm not throwing any of them away until I know for sure. The guy I got her from said she laid twice this year... so the poor girl has laid 3 times!!! I feel bad for her. She was only about 275g with the eggs in her, she is about 230g now.
 
Be ready for her to lay next year, even if you don't breed her! She wants to populate the world. My Milksnake Phase mama, Cherry, is like that.
 
So get her up to weight and give her a good male to go with her and create some beautiful little ones.
 
Back
Top