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I have what I thought was a male black mexi. I have had this snake for about two years and it has never been with another snake during the time I've had it. A couple of days ago there appeared what I thought was a huge intestinal blockage at the base of his tail. This morning there's an egg... and there's more eggs coming!

What the heck is going ON!!

He did eat a garter snake a couple months ago. Could it be that these are hybrid eggs? Is that even possible with mexiking/garter? That's the only explaination I can see, unless snakes can just lay eggs like chickens without a rooster.

I highly highly doubt a garter snake / kingsnake hybrid is possible.

It would be interesting to find out if any of the young have a high midichlorian count

What color are the eggs?
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

My snake's a Jedi? Or maybe I am... "You want to make babies".

So, I found that some lizards can lay eggs without male around. Can maybe snakes hold sperm, like a guppy, and keep fertilizing multiple clutches in the future?

I attached a pic. Still just the one egg so far. She had a hard time with the first, but I'm hopeful that the rest will pass. ...I gotta get some vermiculite! WOW.

Hey Rodney-
While it is a suprise, we can conclude your snake is, after all a female. And I think there is some evidence that some snakes do not have to breed each season to maintain fertility and presumably, your lady was with a boyfriend prior to you aquiring her. Still remains to be seen if the eggs are in fact viable/fertile and what kind of snake the papa was...Good luck in this adventure.

That egg looks like a slug. Lets wait and see what the others look like. It not unsual for females to lay unfertile eggs. Its just a natural thing that females do whether they are with a male or not.

I'd like to see a picture of a good egg vs. a slug if anyone has or knows where.

Thanks for the comments and information!

Well its hard to tell from that picture. But if the yellow part is hard it is probably a dead egg. Some bad eggs are all yellow. Some have different colors. Some people candle their eggs. I don't have to candle because I have seen so many good and bad eggs I can tell right away.

Well a good egg looks like the right half of the egg in your pic and a bad egg looks like the left half. There have been documented cases of both immaculate conception (pythons) and long term sperm storage (indigos) and it could be either or you may just have bad eggs. A friend of mine had a CB rattle snake from birth that has always been housed alone, according to him, that gave birth to one lone female baby last year. I believe Reptiles Magizine had a article about the "virgin" python dropping eggs for a zoo.

later Jason

I am sorry to say that egg does not look good to me - here are some good eggs being laid that are due to hatch on the 6th of august

I did say half looked good and half looked bad. For the record I have had eggs that looked like that hatch. I basically let the carrion flys decide. If they show up and I get maggots on a egg the egg gets flushed. I agree that the egg does not look great, but it may make it.

Later Jason

Some lizards (ie some whiptails) do not need a male to produce eggs. In fact, if I remember, there are some species that males have never been found - and supposedly plant like hybridization occurs in whiptails, where two species mate and produce all female young who do not need males to reproduce, and a chromosone count that is the sum of both parent species. I might be mis-remembering though, it has been at least a decade since I have read up on the one species of lizard I've encountered but never hand caught.
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3.0 WC; 0.1 CB L. getula californiae
0.1 CB L. pyromelana pyromelana
0.1 WC; 10 eggs (7/11) Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

Your memory is good: Whiptails have demonstrated parthenogenic reproduction...some other higher animal species too. More likely here is a previous breeding and retention of sperm or as noted above, non-fertile ova production. The first ovum loooked like a slug to me too. Subsequent eggs should answer the question.

I have heard of females retaining sperm for a 2nd clutch and other reptiles retaining sperm for the next breeding season... but, this snake has been alone for 2 years..

I would keep the egg to see what happends with it, but to me it does not look good.. i am curious to see what the others look like..

~ Mike Russo

>>I have heard of females retaining sperm for a 2nd clutch and other reptiles retaining sperm for the next breeding season... but, this snake has been alone for 2 years..
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>>
>>~ Mike Russo

I am coming up on day 63 for a clutch that an eastern kingsnake laid at work. Incubating between 78-85 F. (I seem to have better luck with a variable temp incubation for herps than a steady temp).

Of the 10 eggs...4 slugs, 6 good. Of the 6, 4 eventually started showing blood vessels when candled. A couple weeks later, the 2 not showing blood vessels began to mold and go bad. Of the remaining 4, eventually the blood vessels got smaller and smaller on 3 of them and disappeared altogether and mold took over. I am now down to 1 egg with fingers anxiously crossed.

The funny thing is... the female hasn't been with a male for at least 7 years. That's how long we've had her. Whether she had ever been with a male prior to that with the previous owner i don't know. I can't tell at this point if it's a record for sperm retention or parthenogensis at work. I hope the last egg actually hatches soon. It still looking good, no mold and showing a nice network of blood vessels when candled. However, i can't seem to make out any body inside...just a couple dark spots along the lower edge of the egg, but not really enough substance to make up a body.
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PHWyvern

Seven years! Wow! Will keep our fingers crossed, let us know what you get!

>>Seven years! Wow! Will keep our fingers crossed, let us know what you get!

The egg started hatching today ! The little one is currently playing peek-a-boo within the egg and the slits.
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PHWyvern