Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
Can anyone who breeds Black milks give me an idea of how many days between the shed and egg laying? I know on average it's 6-10 days for milk snakes, but I'm curious what people have been experiencing.

Thanks.

My pueblan laid 8 days after prelay shed. So anywhere from 5-15 days.

That snake looks familiar. Hmmm.

In my experience, the blacks take a few more days than other milks to lay after shedding. Usually 10-15. Make sure you give them a secure and dark laying box. I use a plastic box filled with moist sphagnum moss. Cut a hole in the box and then put a piece of bark or some other type of hide over the box.

Get ready for a big clutch!

Rob

Thanks Rob. You're the one that got me hooked on them. I'll never forget seeing your monster black milk on display at the show. It looks like I'll probably miss the egg laying, but will have a friend take care of her while I'm away next week. Fingers crossed!

Yeah, its hard to match the beauty of a large black milk.
L8r Shannon

hello, i am watching this snake for weekendherper. late wednesday she laid one large egg. to me, the egg looks rather long and thin. i will try to post a picture of it later today. Since that one egg, she has not laid any others even though there are clearly more in there. the conditions seem fine for her to continue laying them. I do not want to have her eggbound... any thoughts? thanks!

Ok, thankfully there were more eggs this morning. i think they are all slugs though

Rob's right. In my experience, its generally right at 10 days but rarely before. Good luck!

Dave

DNS Reptiles - Updated

Dave,

Are tho$e thi$ year$ egg$, or la$t? In other words, is my first black milk incubating?

I know: patience grasshopper!
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Kent

Hey Kent,

LOL, that pic is from last year. I'd say she has a couple more weeks. She's already huge though which means she may have another huge clutch!

Dave
DNS Reptiles - Updated

What is a huge clutch for black milks, or milks in general? A few years back when I bred corns my female had 20 both years. Her first year she was only 2 years old. These are the first eggs I ever hatched, from '04.

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Kent

I would consider a normal clutch for milks to be 4 to 8. Anything more than 8 is a big clutch and anything more than 12 is what I would consider huge. My blacks have laid clutches of 10 to 15 pretty consistently. The biggest clutch of good eggs I ever had from a Honduran was 13 but I've got a couple females this year that might make a run at that record if the eggs they are carrying are good.

The moose has averaged 14 or 15 over the last 4 years with one year being 19 which pulled up the average a little bit. Never had a clutch less than 10.

Dave

I'm guessing black milk eggs must be larger than corn eggs.

Thanks for the info.
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Kent