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strange yellow sacs

linzi

New member
hello
we have a 2 year old corn snake who is well in every way except we have found strange hard yellow bean shaped sacs in the vivarium.
we cant find any information on this in our book or on the internet.
does anyone know what these things may be?
we dont know what sex our snake is either and it lives on its own at the moment.
many thanks
linzi
 
Urates. Don't worry~ perfectly normal~ but wash your hands. They are kind of like dry snake piss~ I was very confused when I first saw them too~ I thought they looked like little peices of styrofoam!
 
They very well could be slugs. If they are indeed "sacs" then that's probably what they are. If they are hard/chalky/crumbly, then it's just urates.
 
Mind if I clarify Amanda, just in case? "Slugs" are infertile eggs. Guess you have a female, Linzi!
 
hi
thanks for your help. The "sacs" are about 2" long and are bright yellow. They are very hard, not crumbly. We haven't had our snake sexed yet as we were told it was hard to do before now.
I hope this may indicate what these things are. If they were slugs, where would they come from and are they a good thing!!???!!
thanks again all
 
Hard? Not crumbly? Are they really hard like very dry or hard like dry leather? 2" is larger than I would expect from urates as well. I think Amanda may have pegged it~ sounds like slugs. Run your hand down the length of the snake with the snakes belly on the tips of your fingers~ your feeling for lumps or bumps that may be retained eggs. I've personally never heard of a corn with just two eggs or slugs~ I think you may need a vet visit to be sure Linzi~ Good luck!
 
Slugs form as a result of a female ovulating (a normal, regular process in all females), but not mating, which leaves the eggs unfertilised. Sometimes the unfertilised eggs are just reabsorbed inside the body but sometimes they're laid just as fertile eggs would be.

It isn't unusual for a female to lay slugs - even one that has never been with a male can do this. As long as the female is otherwise healthy and doesn't have trouble with laying (e.g. becoming eggbound), this is a normal process and shouldn't harm her.
 
Yep, definitely sounds like a bunch of slugs to me. They tend to get very hard when they dry out. Looks like you've got yourself a girl. Nothing to worry about at all, just a normal thing in "snakeville".

JM, I don't think she said there were just two unless I missed something. And, yes, a snake can lay just two, especially if it is a very young one. I had one female lay only 3 eggs this past season and she was a mature female, just was her first year breeding. I didn't even think she was gravid.
 
I guess its true~ ya learn something new everyday! Never heard of just two before and my smallest clutch was 12! Thanks for the info!
 
thanks for your advice. i have checked "her" down the length of her body and found no obvious lumps and bumps. she is handled a lot and i had never noticed anything before.
Oh yes and there were 3 that i found and i think my husband found at least one (sorry for not saying)
presumably she is of an age that she could be bred then?
Snakes just get more and more interesting!!!
well thanks again all
linzi
 
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