Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys/gals,
My first post here in the rat snake forum. I've been keeping a male okeetee cornsnake and a female leucistic texas rat snake together in a 4X2 cage for years now (both 02's). I had no intention of breeding them...they're just buddies =)

About two months ago, they were showing mating behavior for a few consecutive mornings, and then my female buried herself underneath the subtrate and wasn't to be seen for more than 3 weeks. When she emerged she was in blue and she shed almost a week later? Post-ovulatin shed?

This morning I noticed 1 large egg half burried in the substrate. I was elated! I just finished digging through the cage and no more eggs to be found...strange. This is her first time, but is this a common occurence? She does have a little bit of swelling 4 inches from her cloaca but it's not prominent. Could these be unfertilized eggs?

Anyone know how long texas rat snake eggs incubate?
Also, what will this offspring look like?

Thanks in Advance!

Dimitri Ang

Courtesy of the Ratsnake Foundation :
Reproduction:
5-30eggs are laid per clutch hatching from 50-76 days at 25-29°C
Graham.
-----
30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Texas Long Nosed, Royal, Boa
www.ratsnakefoundation.org

You did not mention giving her a nest box. Is the substrate damp? If not, she might be holding eggs in.......
-----
Lloyd Heilbrunn

Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

And she laid another one. It looks to be infertile to me. It's almost half the size of the first one and a little bit more yellowish in color. It hasn't collapsed though, so there may be a chance. I transfered both of them into a homemade incubator. It's currently at 83 degrees and 100% humidity.

Two eggs is quite low, no? Wonder what the offspring will look like...

Quite often colubrids will lay a few infertile eggs days before laying their fertile eggs. For the last ten years I have kept
most of my colubrid eggs, without an incubator, at room temperature, with very good results. I think you would be very
hard pressed to find natural substrate temps in the mid 80's
in nature. Especially as an average temperature. If the eggs are fertile I wouldn't bother with an incubator, as long as your ambient room temperatures stay within the mid to high 70s. I would expect more eggs in the near future, that are more promising than the first two. Good luck!
-Phil
-----
Work is the curse
of the drinking class!

Interesting.

I would think she would lay more then two eggs. Make sure as others stated you have a moist egg box for her to retreat to.

Try and keep the egg(s) moist with sphagnum or vermiculite and keep in low to mid 80's.

Hatchling will be a mixture of texas and corn influence and het for Leucism.

prob be kewl looking.

Hybrid Colubrid.

Make sure you post pic's if it hatches preferably on the hybrid forum to avoid tension.
Hybrid Discussion

-----
=========================================================
Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
=========================================================
Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.

Well, my female leucistic laid 5 more eggs on Wednesday. I'm thrilled. These eggs are huge. I tranferred them into the incubator with the other two, and they're temp controlled in the low 80's. She's still lounging in the water bowl though, which is where she laid her eggs. Is she just recovering after she laid her clutch? When should I try to feed her?

Thanks everyone!

Good luck with them. Would be very interesting to see the hatchlings.
Graham.
-----
30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Texas Long Nosed, Royal, Boa
www.ratsnakefoundation.org