Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The last few years I have been having a problem with fertility in my kings. I have wondered if I had the male in with the female at the RIGHT time, rather than when I saw them mating. So I tried leaving the male in with the female right up til laying....and sure enough she did. The problem occurs when I find the male eating the eggs! I was frustrated so I manually regurge him, and at least 3 of the 6 eggs he ate(obviously very recently)still look viable. I cleaned the eggs off(obviously digestive juice and set them up to incubate....
Has anyone ever had this happen, react similarly, and what were the results?? Besides costing the male an expensive omlette breakfast.

I had a friend that left kings together till laying also, he said he wasn't sure they were gravid...I asked why not and told him to think they were gravid at least after each shed and take the male out for the time period that oaying would occur...
he too had males eat the eggs as the female laid them...

....I threw corn eggs in with males of different species, knoblochi,nelsoni,campbelli, and hondurensis,,,,none ate but the hondos....male and female...they ate all the eggs I gave them this year.....I thought sure the knob would have eaten them quickly...nope...

....take males out when you think they will lay....after each shed for 2 weeks...?....and breed them while you watch....?...

...good luck....
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1(1.normal,.1mojave,2.1 spider mojaves)
2(1.normal,1.pastel,spider?Huh,.1blast)1 dud 2 boobs died...
3(2pastelghost,3pastel,1normal....)
4(2normal,7 pastel...)
5(pin.....

Gee, not keeping them together, why didnt I think of that????

Sarcasm aside, egg eating too, anyone ever REGURGE eggs that went on to hatch?

I know the frustration you are going through for sure. Ya raise the snakes and do everything right and then lose perfectly goods eggs after years of work and money to get you werer you are only to lose an entire year.

I have had this happen but not with males eating the eggs (because I remove the males when the females are gravid duhhh) . But I have had this happen quite frequently with females eating their own eggs. i post about it here all the time but never gets much response. I just remeove the eggs now from all my females lay boxes as they are laying to insure this does not happen.

And oh ya, i palpitated eggs out of females in hopes to save the eggs. I have never had an eggs survive. those teeth do the damage and it is to late. So now if a female eats her eggs i just don't bother paplpitating.
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www.Bluerosy.com

If you fed those skinny starving snakes you wouldn't have that problem.....Just Kidding Rainer.....Hehe...

I've had calking females eat their eggs as soon as she laid them....Odd....She was even eating the day before she laid her eggs...I thought it was my fault for triggering her feeding response prior to laying.....

Regards,
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John Lassiter

"Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part....."

Rainer, I am going to attempt to incubate and hope for the best. The male is already eating again, he kinda fooled me because I had attempted feeding the day before and he was clouded in a shed cycle...and still hasnt shed out but is eating like crazy. My fertility problems were more concerning than this minor incident. I'm figuring its a substrate issue.

Its Palpate not Palpitate,not to be confused with sulpher and sulfer..lol see ya in Fla.next month

As some mentioned here, the cure is to remove the male at the pre egglaying shed.

But, that is not normal and tells you something is wrong with your setup.

To be sure, a male kingsnake has the best knowledge or chance of finding snake eggs. So do wild kings stick around and eat the females eggs they mated??? I think not. A snakes task is to recruit and eating the eggs would not lend itself to successful recruitment.

I keep leave my kings(of many types) in with the female when she nests and NEVER had a problem.

I also breed varanids are known egg eaters and commonly, regularly consume captive eggs(for many people) Yet, I leave my pairs together and they never eat their own eggs. In fact, they don't even eat other reptile eggs(had torts hatch in monitor cages with monitors in them)

I often mention listening to the reptiles. People often say, listen to what, this stuff your having happen is what you listen too.

You only have to understand that eating your own eggs is not normal and is not what they normally do. So then you can move on and find out why they are. They are in your cages, so you are indeed causing that.

Because I do not have that problem, I cannot tell you what your doing wrong. Also I do not know what your support is, so again, I cannot say what your doing wrong. Cheers

"I also breed varanids are known egg eaters and commonly, regularly consume captive eggs(for many people) Yet, I leave my pairs together and they never eat their own eggs. In fact, they don't even eat other reptile eggs(had torts hatch in monitor cages with monitors in them)"

Do you think the second part of this statement is a reflection of natural behavior or how you were keeping and feeding the monitors?
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

Hmmmmmm I will change the subject a little.

Why would I "think", really why. What I am reporting is an observation. They simply did not consume their or other eggs. YEt they feed like pigs and go thought all life events normally.

I think this is a key point here and the center of many fights.

You(only you as an example) have to "think" about what you saw. That means you rationalize or prejudice what you saw. As a field herper, we are suppose to collect data. PERIOD. The truth is, its very very hard to NOT PREJUDICE observations. Yet, that is our task in the field, TO NOT PREJUDICE observations.

In this case, I have working stable groups of varanids and kings, they life in groups, they do not consume eachothers eggs or eachother, they are successful.

Compare that to others who have their snakes or monitors, kill, fight, eat, eachother and their eggs iF they are so lucky.

As a function of keeping, to not consume eggs or eat eachother is benefitual. I imagine thats also true in nature.

Now compare that to nature. WE KNOW THOUGHT OBSERVATION that male snakes know where the nests are, they are the FIRST TO KNOW. If they naturally consumed their own eggs, there would be very very few eggs hatching, as only those where the males were killed off would survive.(or some such event)

Same for monitors, Now with monitors, its very common behavior to protect the nests. Both males and females. Its also common behavior with our groups for the male to help dig the nest and guard the nest while she is laying.

While this is known with a couple species in nature, its mostly not known for the vast majority of the varanid species.

Its also a hard to interpid behavior. As small reptiles will not defend their nests from giant predators, like us. They will defend their nests against something they have a chance of succeeding with. So a keeper digs up a small monitor nest and says, it came to me then ran off. Hmmmmmmmmm What would you expect?

So back to the point, In this case, its the result that matters, not what I may think, or believe or anyother narsissitic thoughts(about us) Its merely a functioning behavior thats repeatable. Cheers

I used to know a Navy Chief much like you. If I said "I thought" he's say, "there you go thinking again. If I said, "I didn't think" he'd say, "that's just it you didn't think".
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“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emmerson

>> Why would I "think", really why. What I am reporting is an observation.... You (only you as an example) have to "think" about what you saw. That means you rationalize or prejudice what you saw. As a field herper, we are suppose to collect data. PERIOD.

I have trouble reconciling what you say above, with what you said several posts earlier:

"You only have to understand that eating your own eggs is not normal and is not what they normally do. So then you can move on and find out why they are."

Are we to "move on and find out why..." without thinking? Can you clarify?