Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 4 year old female cali king, she was bred last year for the first time and laid 5 good eggs and three duds. Paired her up twice on April 25th and 26th this year with the same male. She is now 25 days gravid and really really fat, like the same size she was at last year when she dropped. She also had a slightly longer pregnancy then average for kings on her first one. She is also just starting to go into shed. Is this normal? I know most snakes have smaller eggs and more of them after there first breeding, but she is really big. Its harder to see in the pic, but its the best I have. Please any advice or info would be appreciated.

Yes, it is not only normal, but very typical and expected for them to do so. It is known as the "pre-lay" shed. Usually anywhere from 6 to 12 days AFTER this shed, they will lay their eggs.

Make sure you put a "lay box" in her enclosure(preferably in the back darkest end) that has PLENTY of moistened sphagnum moss, or peat, etc...just after this next shed for her to get comfortable with so she doesn't stress about a suitable place to lay her eggs. Typically they will go in and out of this for a few days. Then when you notice that she stays in there for a day or more, she will lay soon after.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

Ok that is good to know! I was a little worried about the timing, things seem way speedier this time, but I imagine that has to do with it being her second clutch. Thank you.

This is just an observation, and by no means a rule, but I am starting to really see a correlation between females that are fed heavily and larger eggs. The snakes I really love most get my best attention, and that means lot's of food. They also tend to be the ones with huge eggs that swell the females greatly. Yet other females that I do care about but just, not as anxious about, I feed adequately and tend to have smaller more normal sized eggs. Or at least that is what I am noticing. Anyone else see this?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

With my two female pyros, when Dotz came out of brumation in late January she began eating right away and never had a post brumation shed (at least according to my records; she may have had a shed but it had to have been quick! LOL!). She mated with Mazar in early March after steadily eating a lot all of February and into early April, when she finally went into her pre-lay shed. She got very full and laid a big (for a pyro and her first clutch) of 7 big perfect eggs.

Zunchara on the other hand went into a long post brumation shed in late February and did not eat again until over half way through March. Then she mated with Mazar in late March. So she never got to eat quite as much, and she may or may not be gravid. If she is gravid, her eggs may be smaller. She is a big beefy girl, and did eat a lot during the period between mating and going into pre-lay shed cycle. So she is okay, although not as swollen as Dotz got.

I feed them as much as they want whenever they will eat. Their shed cycles call the shots on how often I can feed them.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

yeah Bob with Pyros you have to take advantage of the time when they are willing to feed. Let us know what the eggs look like, if any. I am really curious if many of us feed our females just a bit too much, maybe increasing the chance of them getting eggbound if it produces extra large eggs. Especially with smaller females, which is very common to push them harder to reach breedind size quicker.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Well your on to something, because I fed this girl quite heavily when she came out of brumation. A good deal more then I fed her the year before,(no power feeding though) and she is MUCH bigger then last year, I wonder if she will lay sooner too? Her pre-lay shed is certainly earlier then last year.

>>Well your on to something, because I fed this girl quite heavily when she came out of brumation. A good deal more then I fed her the year before,(no power feeding though) and she is MUCH bigger then last year, I wonder if she will lay sooner too? Her pre-lay shed is certainly earlier then last year.

Well, today I had a female destroy my theory, lol. This girl was fed very hard and she just laid 11 normal sized eggs for her size. She is the smaller, darker one. The other one still hasn't laid as you can see she's still plump.

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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Thats a very nice looking cornsnake, but I think you meant another picture lol. Here is a better picture of her. Shes around 26 27 days pregnant. I sure hope the one you have is random exception What do you notice in the majority of well fed gravid kingsnakes?

>>Thats a very nice looking cornsnake, but I think you meant another picture lol. Here is a better picture of her. Shes around 26 27 days pregnant. I sure hope the one you have is random exception What do you notice in the majority of well fed gravid kingsnakes?
>>

I was kinda lumping all my colubrids together, but your right King snakes have typically larger eggs. I was telling Discern/Billy that some corns are noted for having large clutches with smaller eggs. Most if not all the king eggs I've ever seen were large. Good luck, you may want to try to get her to eat small meals like pinkies dusted with Calcium. My females usually refuse food at that size.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Thanks, thats a good idea, especially because at the end of incubation her first clutch had windows and I could see what color phase the babies were! I'll definitely try..shes quite a glutton.

That's a real nice hypo there too Jorge!

It looks very similar to my female here that just laid those hypo lavender/hypo het lav. eggs.

Now to keep in kingsnake forum theme,.......GEE!, I love kingsnakes..LMAO!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

I guess you can't put smiley faces on the Title line?

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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

too funny!

Seriously though, is that hypo one you caught from Polk County?

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"