Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I have a 40" female desert kingsnake (splendida) which mated a few weeks ago and I thought eggs should have been laid already but nothing yet.

Here are details:
The snakes mated 4 times between july 21 and aug 11. Both have shed skin in Aug 04 and have been eating well one XL mouse a week. Only the female have shed again, in Aug 30. Do you guys think this is the pre-laying shed? If so, the eggs should be already laid right? There is a humid hide with sphagnum moss (where the snake is all the time since I put the hide there 1 month ago)and temperature is always about 78-90.

I am a first time snake breeder and I am using as reference only Barrons Kingsnake and Milksnake book, where is writen that egg developing time is 42-64 days and pre-laying shed do occur 10 days before ovoposition.
What should I expect now?
I hope to be understandible with my poor english and thanks for any help.

Is your snake gravid (pregnant) ??? Is it noticeably fatter looking, bigger?

yep

I'll let someone else with more experience answer, but I don't see any pig problems with your dates. I just wanted to get the gravid question out of the way because some people around here are so new to this, they might not know the difference.

I meant big not pig. lol I hate how you can't edit anything on this site. It's like they want to trap you around here. Very childish.

LOL
The deal that worry me about is this shed cycle. I think the should have laid already it it take 10 days as said in book. I really dont think the female will shed again in so little time...

This is what happens to first time breeders when they expect things to fall together just how the book says. lol Just playin with you, but I did the same. This year I didn't even pay attention to the days it took to lay after the shed. I just let it all happen, and it eventually did. I did think more about things when the time came close, but I still just let it happen. Your snake will start searching through the entire cage almost non stop before it lays. Even with a lay box in there, it could search from a few days up until a week, from what I've experienced. If she's just laying there, she's probably not ready.

As I calculate, its normal to the eggs been laid until first half of october. I just was get surprised with a shed so soon...
maybe next one
thanks for all the help guys.

Heres the deal, its VERY easy to feel if your female has eggs in her. Its called, to palpate. That is, you let the female crawl throught your fingers and as she does, you can feel each egg or ovum. You can easily feel them from the time she ovulates, to just before laying. This technique is very important. Far more important then what other temperature characters your reading about. All times can and do vary with temps. So they are averages, not exact.

But a female MUST have eggs insider her if she is going to lay them. This is not about temps, its a physical condition. Not guesswork.

All snakes crawl throught cracks and holes, this is what they are designed for. It does not hurt them or the eggs to crawl in a hole slighly smaller then their diameter. Be gentle and firm, and you will learn to not only tell if a female has eggs in her, but how many and when they will be laid. All this is eaisly determined by palpation. There are many ways to palpate snakes and even handy tools to help you with this. But first, you must understand what is possible. Cheers

564
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Diego

SWCHR

I remember the red silk hanky that Erine Wagner would use. It allow the easily slide through your hands and feel the ovum/eggs. Cheers

54654
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Diego

SWCHR

To keep it simple Gestation is usually 1 Month and incubation is 2 Monthes..........Sorry i didnt remember your full question but dinners ready...........C

Can you feel the eggs in her? Just because she bred and got bigger doesn't mean she will lay eggs. She could reabsorb them or just not ovulate like you think she did.
In any case just make sure she has a suitable nest box and give it a little time. Good luck.

I fact I did not handle it to not disturb her. But Im pretty sure. Shes pretty swelling on the oviduct area and some times spend a time in the UTH area, something she didnt do usually, unless just after feeding.

It seems kind of late in the season, but who knows.

Do you have a suitable nestbox for her to lay in? Make sure it is large enough for her to fit comfortably in and that it is deep enough.
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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

In fact I missed one information. I am in southern hemisphere LOL

The hide is big enough to it fill 80% of the space inside and she stays all the time burried under the moss.