Posted by:
WillStill
at Thu May 13 14:02:00 2010 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WillStill ]
Hi Brad,
Sorry for the loss of that clutch. That female is a smoker! I've had that happen a couple of times with my oldest, adult GA females. In my cases, it was likely that I just didn't support the girls well enough and they were just hungry. I've had males do this as well, follow a laying female into the nest on laying day and swallow them like candy as the female dropped the clutch. That is why I don't keep male kings in with the girls once they start nesting anymore. I have found that my easterns, especially GAs often feact to possible food stimuli even when they are literally too stuffed with mice and chicks to move. I feel that this may be a result of my unconsciously conditioning them to eat whenever they have a chance. They may recall that I'm a bit stingy on food at times and just resolve to never miss an opportunity to eat, or however they work it out.
I have also had female pythons kick out dead/infertiles and slugs and had a huge female Kenyan sand boa that would consume any slugs she deposited. During relatively good years, she would pick through the litter and eat them as she encountered them and on years when she slugged out, she would consume up to 23 slugs in a sitting (I watched her and counted).
Anyway, I hope that girl gives you another clutch, and lets you keep 'em next time!
Will
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RE: You don't see this every day...... - WillStill, Thu May 13 14:02:00 2010