Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering if it is possible for a female milk snake to eat her own eggs after laying them? thanks

that are infertile. They are often discolored but not always (yellows, light greens). Most of the time they are also soft and don't harden to the same consistency as normal eggs do. They are usually smaller compared to "normal" sized eggs.

Yes, females will eat their slugs to reabsorb nutrients. Egg laying is a stressful process and some snakes have been known to do that. Live bearers will eat their young sometimes for the same reasons.

hope that helped
mgl

it is rare but it has happened before.

>>Just wondering if it is possible for a female milk snake to eat her own eggs after laying them? thanks

yep. I can confirm one or two instances where that definitely happened with eggs that appeared to be good.

I think this behavior is one (not necessarily the only) explanation for the phenomenon people call "egg reabsorption", where an obviously gravid female "never lays" and just starts getting thinner. people have assumed that's because the eggs were formed and then "resorbed" without ever being laid.

sometimes, i know, the eggs are layed and then eaten: the snake still appears fat the next day, but will gradually (as the eaten eggs are digested) get slimmer and slimmer.

one key to recognizing that what's happened is that the eggs were laid and eaten, would be to observe if the snake is fattest in the back half of its body (where eggs awaiting deposition would be), one day, and the next day the fullness or fatness is more centered mid-body, where a large meal would be.

terry

I have had both pueblan and sinaloan eat there own eggs. Both were normally agressive eaters who had refuse to eat when heavily gravid. I was able to work out the eggs from one pueblan about a 1/2 hour after she swallowed them and none hatched, I'm sure the stomach acid did something to the permeable shells. The other one I didn't find until the next day and just let her digest them.