Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Came home last night to find my Vietnamese Blue Beauty guarding a clutch of eggs that she just dropped. I pried her off the eggs, separated them and placed them in the incubator. 14 eggs in total. Keeping my figures crossed.

I've read a post previously about Asian rat snakes possessing what appears to be a maternal attitude towards their eggs. I definitely noticed this with her this time. She was coiled around her eggs huffing and puffing anytime I got near. Of course the real test would be to leave the eggs in with her and to see how long she would stay with them, but I definitely didn't want to risk the eggs. Nevertheless, found it interesting. Has anyone noticed similar behavior or attempted to see how long the female would stay with the eggs?

Thanks,
Mike

mikesreptiles.webs.com

Congrats on the eggs!

Yes, over the years, I have gotten several clutches from a couple different female Chinese Beauties (Orthriophis taeniurus taeniurus) - and they have fought me hard over them, and put a tight squeeze on them too. I am considering leaving my big calico female with her clutch, if she has one this year, and see what happens. I have heard there is an article on one of the beauty subspecies maternally incubating eggs, in an old magazine - but cannot remember which mag it was or the author. This behavior seems to be specific to the rat snakes of the genus Orthriophis, as I have not heard of any other genera (of rat snakes) which do this.
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

Thanks Toby! If you end up leaving a clutch in with one of your females, please keep us posted with your observations.

Gotta love forums like Kingsnake.com for making it possible ans so much simpler to share experience and and knowledge that otherwise would have not been readily available.

Mike

>>Thanks Toby! If you end up leaving a clutch in with one of your females, please keep us posted with your observations.
>>
>>Gotta love forums like Kingsnake.com for making it possible ans so much simpler to share experience and and knowledge that otherwise would have not been readily available.
>>
>>Mike

No problem, Mike. Will do on my observations - I believe in sharing experiences and knowledge...
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-Toby Brock
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research

The September 2000 issue of Reptiles Magazine had an article about Blue Beauties written by Mike Humphrey. He had two females that maternally incubated their eggs. They only left the eggs to eat and drink. Occasionally when the eggs were misted, they would leave them briefly...

Of the two clutches, had 13 of 16 and 14 of 17 eggs hatch out this way.

Steve

Thanks for the info Steve! Maternal incubation is definitely not a characteristic most people would associated with the colubrid family and hence it's fascinating to learn learn that it does exist. Originally, I was thinking that the female was just temporarily guarding her eggs and would abandon them given time but to find out that she would continue to maternally incubate them until full term is a surprise. I'h having a hard time tracking down Mike Humphrey's article. Any chance you might have a link to it?

Thanks,
Mike Morkos
mikesreptiles.webs.com