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Hello Everyone...What does it mean when a live birth snake produces a slug??? My copperhead produced one and i am not quite sure what that means. If anyone has any helpful information it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks-V

A slug is unfertilized ova. In other words, an egg within the female that was not fertilized, and therefore did not develop into a snake.

Thanks...I knew what a slug was i was just shocked when i saw that she had one. So there is no reason to be alarmed? I was unaware that a live-birth snake would produce that.

the former term for snakes giving live birth was ovoviviparous. This term basically defines eggs which fertilize inside the mother. new information showing these animals actually getting nutrients from the mother has made it more appropriate to drop the former term and simply call these animals viviparous. (at least this is how I understand it)

Anyway, slugs would be fairly common from viviparous snakes. I am surprised you have not heard of some snakes eating the "slugs" after giving birth to a liter.

thanks for the info...it was my first expreience with that and i just wanted to make sure it wasn't a big deal. And i thought i would share a pic of her as well.

The post before was right. New data as shown that some vipers do contribute nutrients to a developing embryo. So they are considered viviparous (live born). Boas however are considered ovoviviparous (live born/retained egg). They do not appear to contribute any nutrients after the ova is formed. All the nutrients for a baby boa is contained inside the yolk.

Correct me if I am wrong..but I think that is the jist of it.

Chris
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Chris Smith
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