A friend who works at a local county nature center sent this to me. The picture quality isn't that great but is certainly good enough. Again, I wish this story were mine, but it is actually a friend's.
Thought you might enjoy this. One of our employees called me at home on Monday (my day off) to tell me there was a snake in the spotted turtle breeding enclosure (a waterland tub with a 2' x 18" x 6" deep nesting area full of sand). Since he doesn't handle snakes yet, I came in to catch it and figure out which snake it was and where it belonged.
It turns out it was our female pine snake. We had attempted a breeding many months (almost a year) prior. After many months of ignoring the nest box we provided, we removed it and assumed the breeding was unsuccessful.
On Sunday someone left the drawer slightly open, and she was apparently able to squeeze out. When I arrived at the center, I discovered that she had excavated extensively inside the sand area. In the pictures, you can see two openings which were connected by tunnels underneath and another towards the front. Substantial amounts of sand had been scooped into the water. The tunnel was long enough that I was able to get most of my forearm into it! I was very impressed with her ability to excavate the soil through the small openings that were maybe 3 inches across without collapsing the soil.
She had not laid any eggs yet, so I filled her drawer with a friable sand/coconut coir mixture and she's been digging in there. I'm not able to feel any distinct eggs in there, but her abdomen is pretty firm and I suspect she has some. I'm concerned that she may be egg-bound, so if she doesn't lay them soon we'll be going to visit Stahl soon.
Needless to say, the spotted turtles were none too pleased with the invasion. All five of them were attempting to cram themselves into the hollow log inside their enclosure.
The pictures were taken before I started excavating for eggs, with the only camera we had available, a cell phone. There are three openings (I think only one was intentional), in three of the corners. Keep in mind; they are all connected by tunnels!
------BACK TO ME AGAIN------
He mentions wondering if she might be egg bound since she excavated like this. My thought is a burrow may be excavated well ahead of egg laying time. Might this even be made as a hide spot / lair without the snake being gravid?
I look forward to your comments
Andy
