Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I seen a post the other day about ball pythons laying eggs without being introduced to a male. And today when i went to check my mail i seen this and thought i would share. It's not ball pythons but pretty much the same subject matter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/ap_on_sc/britain_virgin_birth
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B Sleeper

1.0 Chocolate Lab
0.1 ?? Normal Ball python (yet different)
1.0 04 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Pied
1.0 06 Pastel
0.? 07 Pos Het Albino (Momma has not laid the eggs yet)

As far as I know, this could not happen with ball pythons!

A female ball python needs to be in contact with a male to induce follicule growth, without a male, females will never spend energy growing follicules.

There as been cases of females laying viable eggs many years after contact with a male. Unless someone has better arguments, a virgin female ball python would never produce viable eggs.

Actually, it is referred to as "parthenogensis" and it has been documented in several reptile species - and yes, in species that are thought to otherwise be induced ovulators (like BPs). Unfortunately for all of our interest and calculated observations, we in the Ball Python community are not quite scientific enough to definitively prove one way or the other whether or not this is something that Ball Pythons are capable of. Think about it: the keeper this would happen to would be someone who didn't plan on breeding his pet, and wouldn't be able to whip together an incubator fast enough to save the "oopsie/surprise" eggs... or maybe even care to. IF the keeper were somebody who would get excited about it, and somehow managed to save the parthenogenically produced eggs, how are they going to set about proving it was by parthenogenesis? Genetic testing is still a very costly beastie. The people in the world of Ball Pythons who are actually in a position to be able to pay for that kind of testing probably wouldn't have some random female sitting around, never exposed to a male for long enough that parthenogenesis could be observed. Either way, it is cool stuff. I heard about the Komodo a while ago. Unfortunately for what the article talked about - a new tool to save endangered species - parthenogenesis is not understood well enough for us to "use" it intentionally. Very cool stuff when it can be proven!!

from the dicitonary:

"Parthenogenesis: Reproduction in which an egg develops into a new individual without being fertilized. Aphids and certain other insects can reproduce by parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis does not necessarily produce clones of the parent. Among hymenopterans such as honeybees and ants, the haploid males develop from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen, who is diploid. Parthenogenesis is a form of apomixis."

Cheers all
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)