Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it possible for a ball python to lay eggs without having ever mated?

I just found a clutch of 8 eggs in my female ball python's tank. She has never been mated (I do have a male but they are housed seperately and have not had _any_ contact). I have had her for 7 years during which time I have never tried to mate her.

I have candled each of the eggs and they all glow yellow which I understand means they are infertile.

Has anyone heard of this happening? I tried googling but didn't find any helpful information.

Thanks in advane for any info!

It does happen occasionally.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

Yes it is possible. I was recently contacted by someone in the UK that had a female normal for 27 years and she laid a clutch of eggs without ever being in contact with a male. 2 of the eggs were fertile and they hatched successfully!

She was in contact with the London zoo and they assisted with a loaner incubator and are now doing genetic testing with the hatchlings. It also happened with a Burmese in a zoo in Germany I believe.
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www.ballpython.ca

Parthenogenesis. Happened with a rattlesnake in a zoo as well. Female virgin snake, kept alone her whole life, had 3 babies (live birth).
All 3 were male. They speculate that it's a fail safe to continue the species if all males die.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

... or if a lone female gets to an island/South Florida swamp.

But the odd thing about the Burmese zoo animal in Amsterdam was that she produced eggs with female clones of herself. Unfortunately zoo policy would not allow them to hatch the eggs. Interesting that snakes could have two completely different mechanisms for parthenogenesis.

The major issue in the case of parthenogenesis is whether the female produces viable male or female offspring, and, if only females are produced, which form of parthenogenesis was used (they can be either clones, or half clones). For example, with the Burmese python the embryoes were female and considered clones of the mother, based on AFLP analysis. In a case I am writing up at the moment the babies are all female, viable, but half clones of the mother (i.e. one set of the chromosomes duplcated). In other cases (garter snakes) males were produced.
As a result, the evolutionary impact varies based on the parthenogenic mechanism, and the sex resulting.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

Parthenogenesis has been reported in some reptiles. I think it happened with a monitor lizard at a zoo a few years ago. Some geckos do it regularly, at least in one species ALL the individuals are parthenogenetic females and the same is true with at least one snake (the Brahmin thread snake, an Asian little snake now quite common in Florida). I had not heard of it happening in ball pythons, but it seems it's possible judging by the previous posts. Odd that in some of those examples the eggs would produce males...parthenogenesis produce clones of the mother, hence female babies...
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Neutiquam erro. Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.

The mechanism of parthenogenesis determines the sex of the offspring.

One form (e.g. premiotic doubling), the offspring will be clones of the mother, and hence female. In others, e.g. automixis with terminal fusion, the babies will be male, given the sex chromosomal system of snakes being ZZ (male) and ZW (female). Therefore with premiotic doubling the babies end up ZW. With automixis the babies end up ZZ, and hence male. WW are said to be non-viable.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

....if she just laid a bunch of infertile eggs. She merely cycled her ovum without having sperm to fertilize them.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl