Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a normal female ball. I adopted her in 2005, at which time she was full grown. She is about 4 feet long. I estimate her age to be around 10. She has a great temperament. To my knowledge, she has had no contact with any snake, male or female, since I have had her. All my 6 animals are in separate cages - female normal ball, female yellow anaconda, female hybrid green anaconda, female kingsnake, male albino burmese python, male savannah monitor. My ball python's cage is the most secure, and has a locking mechanism. She has, at times, stayed in other less secure cages (tubs). My burmese has escaped several times, but I have no reason to think he and the ball have ever made contact during one of these situations. The burmese is approximately 3 years old, 6 feet long.

Today, I went to feed my ball, only to find her wrapped around 4 or 5 large eggs. She was very protective of them, as expected. I can't figure out how she possibly could have been pregnant. I am very careful not to let my animals come into contact with one another.

I spoke to a ball python breeder today, who informed me balls can be inseminated and lay eggs a few years later, but he had never heard of this happening after 4 years. Another weird thing is that she has been eating regularly, at least once per week, for the past few months. Her last meal was within the last three days. I'm told this does not happen with pregnant balls. I asked the breeder if the eggs could be slugs, but since they are large eggs (I would say at least twice the size of a normal large grade A egg), he didn't think so. He seemed equally fascinated by this particular case. He also didn't seem to think it very likely that she laid eggs without insemination - is that even possible with balls? If the burm did come into contact with the ball, do they even breed together? I think I remember hearing about ball-burm morphs, but I can't really remember.

I know quite a bit about reptiles, but I know almost nothing about breeding because I have never been interested in trying it. Now I'm kinda excited. I currently plan on leaving her alone in her cage to incubate them. I am told balls have a great survival rate with hatchlings. Should I be worried about what may be inside these eggs? Does anyone have any clue who the father could be, based on the information provided? Feel free to email me at drbster@yahoo.com. I'm very curious about this whole situation. I'll be researching in the meantime...

--- David

Pretty cool story! All it takes is one quick lock-up at the right time and boom…….eggs! Out of all your animals the only animal i can see as a possible mate would be the burm.

If it was indeed the burm you will have hybrids het for albino

Now my question is if you take an albino ball and an albino burm and make hybrids will the hybrids come out all albino?

Pitoon

only way to find out is wait till the eggs hatch. I don't think its likely you have burmese/ball python hybrids, the eggs are most likely retained sperm (though 4 years is something I haven't heard of) As you indicated you are very careful about keeping all your animals apart, doesn't seem possible any breeding took place.

It is also possible the eggs are not fertile.

Incubate the eggs and see what happens...if they are Burmese/ball hybrids, they will definitely not look like a ball python or a Burmese python. Nor will they be albino either..(I don't think the recessive trait of different species are compatible....I don't even think Burmese and ball pythons are even compatible either. In the past somebody was saying they saw a site where a breeder claimed to have bred the two species together...but the result looked more like a blood python or blood/ball cross).
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PHLdyPayne

woma x ball has been done
blood x ball has been done

Pitoon

Now you have a few options to consider:
Let her brood them or incubate them yourself? Then you will either need to quickly build or buy an incubator. Debating this myself.
Candle them first or just incubate and hope? When you shine a bright flashlight into the eggs you should see veins developing. No veins, probably not fertile.

Could you post pictures of mom and the clutch? Slugs look pretty distinct compared to normal, fertile eggs. Not that the appearance is all the matters, but it could help.

Didn't we recently discuss the possibility of parthenogenesis in Balls? If this was a retained sperm clutch, you really beat the odds. The chances of 4 year old sperm producing a fertile egg, let alone multiple, is pretty slim. If they are fertile, get yourself a lottery ticket.
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3.4 ball pythons
1.1 kingsnakes
0.1 crazy cat
?!.?! ASFs
1.0 husband

if they are fertile.........get me a lottery ticket as well !!!!!

Pitoon

Congrats on the eggs. I hate to be a downer here but keep your burm in a properly secured cage. It is owners like you that are going to ruin it for the rest of us...

I agree with the post above me

Thanks for all the replies. She is almost completely covering the eggs. When she moves a bit, I can somewhat see them, but it freaked me out yesterday when I went to pick her up. I only saw them for a brief moment. I think I will leave her be for the next couple days, but I do want to take a closer look at the clutch soon. I have pics, but my camera phone is acting up. I will try to get fixed to post a few.

As for my burmese, I did a pretty good job with his cage considering it was my first I ever built. I have since modified the cage to ensure its security. I also built the cage knowing he would be staying in a secure room in case of escape.

Thanks for the posts, it really helped!

I remember you from the forums a few years ago, if it's the same person! I remember you have a great looking group of morphs and that real nice bright yellow YB!
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In Loving Memory of the best Brother God gave me
Sgt. Arnold DuPlantier II
(Army National Guard, Charlie Rock Co.)
06/03/1979-(KIA)06/22/2005
Support And Remember Our Troops

Sorry, different person.

secure all of your cages with locks! Escaping burms is causing a HUGE problem for the reptile community and the government is choosing to lump all pythons into a BAN.

Best wishes with your eggs!
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Cheers,
Jessica Gibbs
Ball Pythons; Corn Snakes; Green Tree Python; Jungle Carpet Pythons; Bci; Bcl
3.0 Crazy Dogs and 2.0 cats
Some Tropical Fish
...........and growing!

Do you know for sure that they are not slugs? Sounds like you are going to let her incubate them. Does your cage hold the proper humidity and temps to allow the female to incubate the eggs?
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John Vandegrift

She discarded one today. Looks like a slug, smaller and not as white. She still has four under her. She moved a bit and I saw them. They look pretty white, but I still don't know if they are fertile. Is it a good sign that she discarded one and is still on top of the other four? In the case of infertile eggs, how long will a mother incubate before discarding them? I'm hesitant to move her.

Thanks again for the replies, it's helping!

Candle the eggs,turn the lights out, hold a small flashlight up to the eggs, if you see red veins then they are fertile. if nothing else you will know if they are fertile. good luck

not fertile. I took in an underweight 10 year old rescue some years ago that after several months of decent feedings suddenly produced a clutch of 6 eggs and she had never been with a male. The eggs were large (goose size) and looked good at first, but after several days in the incubator they finally started turning bad one by one.