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When would a second clutch be laid?

Amanda E

Amanda E

Snake Addict!
Hi. I know I've read this somewhere before, but I can't find it now and I don't remember the details.

Can someone tell me when females usually lay their second clutches in relation to their first clutch?

Is it about 1 month after their first clutch? 2 months after?

Help me out here please.
 
I do believe they lay them right around the same time the first clutch is getting ready to hatch. So that'd be around two months.

Traci
 
I agree with Traci. I've looked back at my records and mine seem to have favoured a six to eight week gap between clutches.
 
My experience has been that it's usually around a week before the first clutch hatching that the second is laid.
 
Do most second clutch? If you don't want a second clutch can you prevent it? I didn't find any info on this in the archived stuff.
 
From what I've heard, it's fairly genetic as to if they will lay a second clutch or not.

The female I have has double clutched every season she has been bred (though not sure how many seasons that will be as I just bought her this spring), so I'm sure she will do so again, even though her first clutch seemed to really knock the stuffing out of her. She lost almost 1/3 of her weight when she laid her eggs.
 
So far, I've owned one that never double-clutched, two that always double-clutched and just waiting to find out about the latest in the next few weeks (fingers crossed!).

As far as I've seen, it doesn't relate to bodyweight or how much you feed them up after the first clutch. My single-clutcher never laid a second clutch, regardless of how many mice & supplements I managed to fit in her; she just went back to her pre-lay bodyweight and that was that.

The two double-clutchers worried me to death the first couple of years, as they were always still quite skinny when the second clutches appeared. However, it never seemed to harm them and they were back to pre-lay bodyweight within a month. There were slightly fewer eggs in the second clutches, but the ratio of slugs/non-feeders was the same as for the first clutches.

(I give silent thanks at this point that I've been keeping detailed records since the first day I owned a snake - I now have 13 years of data to call on if I ever start to panic about something!)
 
I have one corn that is going to double clutch for sure (I could feel the eggs).... She laid 10 eggs on May 5th, and just shed Friday, which means if there is a ten day way for her to lay them, she'll lay them on day 61 of incubation of the first clutch. I only felt four or five eggs however. My other corn I was afraid would double clutch shed a few days ago. But she ate right before going blue, and right after shedding. I think she developed follicles, but without a reintroduction resorbed them. In the meantime she's grown like CRAZY.

My other corn that laid eggs has been sick ever since, I've only gotten one pinky into her. I'm still not sure she's going to make it. She has, however, started to look plumper regardless of having not eaten. This, of course, worries me that in spite of being very sick, she might actually lay a second clutch.
 
A really stupid question...

When you talk about double clutching, do the snakes actually lay a second clutch without mating again... or am I being dumb?
 
I have to say that they can still surprise you. I've had my snow for 7 years. She had never laid a 2nd clutch. This year I was especially proud of the way she was eating like a hog and putting on weight after she laid. So of course she goes and lays a 2nd clutch (right around the time the 1st would have been hatching if any of the eggs had been good) and is skinny again.
 
I was kind of curious about the time frame myself. I thought I read somewhere, whether here or in the CSM, that it was 45 days from the first clutch to second. But obviously this is incorrect. I must have been reading 45 days for something or another. =P

I didn't think my female was going to double clutch as she was eating great after her first clutch and I palpated her a couple of times and never really felt anything out of the ordinary.

Then she stopped wanting to eat, and only wanted smaller items like fuzzies or crawlers and she was getting blue about that time so I just pinned it on her getting ready to shed.

Thank goodness I left that moist hide/laying container in there the entire time. I'd hate myself if the eggs were to have gone bad. But yesterday when I was feeding she was in the moist hide and I held it up to look at the bottom and there she was curled around 13 fertile eggs.

Once I removed the eggs and her, she ate 3 hoppers and 2 fuzzies rather greedily, so I guess that's a good sign. =)

But it was 62 days into the incubation of the first clutch that she laid the second clutch.

Last year I was gone on my honeymoon when she apparently double clutched and I wasn't expecting it. I came home and cleaned her cage out and found 9 eggs strung together like pearls, so I'm guessing they were obviously infertile. But it's hard to tell when they're petrified and greasy. =P
 
I was just re-reading this post in order to better pin point the time for my female to double clutch. Yesterday was the first meal she's refused since her first clutch, so if I can estimate her second clutch based on how she acted with her first clutch, I should expect eggs in about 20 days, which would be 63 days into the incubation of the first clutch.

She's looking pretty fat, but not as much as her first clutch, so I'm really wondering how many she's going to lay. I tried to palpate her, but couldn't feel too much, a few bumps, but nothing real defined. A week or so ago I felt what I thought were about 7 eggs, but I only estimated 10 eggs with the first clutch and she surprised me with 13, so obviously I suck at counting them by feel. I hope whatever she lays, they are all (or at least mostly) fertile. I'd love to maximize my chances of Ambers!!! They are one of my favorite color morphs but I have 0 as of right now.
 
I love the Ambers as well Amanda, but my male's only two at the moment so I have a while to wait for more of the same yet.

My Snow is smack on target; her first clutch started hatching two days ago and she's just started laying her second clutch today. Trouble is, for the first time ever, she's laid a whole bunch of slugs along with some fertile ones (8 out of 14 so far are infertile).

Looks like being a bit of a disappointing year, what with my four year olds showing absolutely no sign at all of reproducing. Maybe I should have played them some Barry White a few months back?
 
Kel said:
She's laid a whole bunch of slugs along with some fertile ones (8 out of 14 so far are infertile).
Click to expand...

Well, at least some are fertile. They all could have been slugs and been even more of a disappointment, right?

As I said, I really hope that she lays a bunch of fertile eggs, but I'm kind of expecting a bunch of slugs too because last year, in Rich's care, she laid about half fertile/half slugs.
 
You're right Amanda, I ought to be more grateful for what I've got! It was just a shock as she's always laid clutches of 15-30 eggs, with never more than 1 slug per clutch (usually none). Ah well, at least she's absolutely fine, so that's another stress point out of the way.
 
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