Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a corn snake that I was expecting a lot of eggs from. She was sold to me as a proven breeder, and is about 5 years old. She went through the normal routine with mating, getting big and then shed. I provided the normal nest box. Well, she started laying today. Every egg that has come out is popped. I dont know if it is popping as she lays it or she is smashing it. I am going to have to say it is the first one, because i checked on her earlier and she is now in the same possition she was then. So, I dont think she is moving around. I havent wanted to bother her too much, but wanted to save any eggs if she was smashing them. There has been a total of at least 5-6 eggs that were smashed, the insides all over the bottom of the nest box. I have only recovered one egg, not popped.
Like I said, I am not checking on her real frequently because I dont want to stress her out. I figure once in the morning, once at night. I will check on her tomorrow and see how she is.
I was just wondering if anyone has had this happen?
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles!
I havent had that happen to me, but my first thought would be weak eggs due to insufficient calcium? Hopefully someone with an accurate answer can chime in
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

Wow!,.....that's too bad, and I'm sorry to hear that.

That's never happened to me personally, and I can't recall ever hearing about that from other people's experience either. But there obviously has to be an abnormality with the shells, as they are normally extremely resilient, and plyable to any pressure she would exert on them.

Are the eggs smooth, and otherwise normal looking, or do you see shallow voids here and there?(sort of lumpy), if so, I've seen that type of thing a number of times, but those were always laid without rupturing, even though some might not be viable.

In any case, that does seem very strange, and certainly uncommon. I hope you at least get a few more that aren't ruptured, and are viable from her.
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

golly Misty, that stinks.... i know you probably took pics, you wanna send any my way?? i'm just curious to see what it looked like.... i hope your girl is ok.... and best of luck!!
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn(Just A Pet), A Ball Python, A Bearded dragon, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping turtle, and a white cheeked mud turtle

to me it sounds like duds. Some duds are almost liquified. Just feed her up when shes done laying and get some weight back on her for next season. She could also lay a double clutch on you as well. Best of luck. Mike Panichi
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honesty is my only policy

why am I the only other one?

...YES I have seen it a few times with a few different clutches......it has to be a vitamin and calcium thing I would say.........

they pop on the way out......and if a few pop and it gets all over the good eggs it will become goey and rubbery and stick to everything ,,,it';s a mess and hard to get off the good eggs......BUT IF you don't get it off fruit flies and mold will surely attack the goey junk and may eat into the good eggs....

I start by scraping the gunk off with a small paring knife and get as much as possible off.....I have also used warm water to get the more liquid part off......IF you have never stuck a whole clutch of eggs under running water and IF you are afraid to do it or lose the whole clutch.....use paper towels and the knife........be careful and take you time....

good luck......

oh.......follicles are made....then they mature into ovum and when the female ovulates they get fertilized....they drop out of the ovaries and pick up sperm during ovulation.....they then all move around again and line up in each oviduct......there is essentially 2 rows of eggs inside the female , front to back.....they all touch each other and you really cannot see or feel the single eggs by palpating like ball people always try and do (why?) .....anyways..after they line up the shells begin to be placed onto the eggs in layers...and as you found out.becasue they touch each other....the ends don't always get fully covered and closed up......this is why we also see strings of shell membrane between eggs holding them together like they are in a necklace...too much shell material......

so essentially your eggs weren't closed......think of it as the Baggie they are in wasn't closed the whole way......

...good luck.......(I need to use vitamins and all more often too,.........).....

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I have had a very bad season this year. Bad enough that I dont want to go into it. But, this case proved unique enough for me to post about it. Like I said, the snake was a big snake and had not issues before, that I know of. She ate the same as my other females. Its odd that this happened to only her so far.
So you think she will have this issue again?
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"