Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to check on my brumating female, I found an egg in the container. Long story short, we don't have two females and a male, but two males and a female. Anyway, she laid two eggs last night, and is full of eggs. But 24 hours later she hasn't laid any more. Is she ok? Is there something I should do? I put the two eggs in the incubator. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Set up a nesting box for her to lay eggs in. Do you know if the snake shed recently? Snakes sometimes lay infertile eggs (usually one at a time) prior to dropping a clutch.

Tim

I put a container with pet moss in her cage last night. She crawls around in it, but still hasn't laid any more eggs. So two eggs Mon night and nothing since. Any suggestions? Desperate!

....Like Tim said...they drop out the duds ahead of the good ones ,,,sometimes,,,not always....

get her to 83 degrees....
nest box....
wait...

like he asked also...when was last shed?....

...wait again....!!!

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........JY

Last shed probably 10 days ago. Temp is 80. I soaked her last night. Still nothing. At least ten edds in her. Thanks for the replies!

She laid another egg this morning. Cane someone tell me what's going on? Can a virgin snake have a clutch of infertile eggs? Has anyone ever heard of something like this before? Four eggs in five days and still 7 or 8 eggs left!

...yes...virgins can lay unfertilized ovum...they do it all the time...

burmese people (and others) say that a snake virgin has laid a clutch of fertile eggs before...(I still dismiss this fact as fiction...I mean fiction as fiction)...

....yes she can lay an egg a day for a week then lay 10 good ones....or 10 duds...or good ones that turn to dead ones...it's all possible...all been done a million times....

so...she needs 85 degrees or so....and 10 days after shed should have been good...but if you had her brumating it will take longer due to the ovum being colder from the start of development inside her....

she may be gravid with good or duds....just keep her warm and watered and have a good nest box...it helps...(cover nest box even ...I have even used newspaper , on top of nest material,,,,and I used moss to lay in ....green ,cutup ,live moss,dampened)...)...

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........JY

Thanks very much for the reply! I'll just be patient. I've done the things you mentioned. One more question. I've looked everywhere for vermiculite and can't find any. I got perlite. Is this good substrate for incubating the eggs? Thanks again. I appreciate it!

perlite works but it actually does NOT hold water ...so you need the "no substrate method" and have to do it properly....
I used vermic for 20 years and sat eggs down IN it...works ..

check area garden stores and maybe farm or hardware stores....greenhouses even.....it can be difficult at times...
K-Mart has sold it from time to time, but never when I am there...

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........JY

FYI I have gotten vermiculite at Home Depot before.

-- Dennis

Both vermiculite and Perlite work fine,.....even a mix of the two can work well. Just be damn sure you don't get the vermiculite with "Miracle-Gro" in it.

As mentioned, just be patient and give her the warmth in the 80's and a good nesting box. They often lay a few duds before the others. I'm sure she will lay whatever else is in her withing a couple more days. The cooler temps likely through things off, and no telling about the fertility of the eggs.

They can also sometimes retain sperm from the prior year and have fertile clutches. That happened to me for the first time last season and all 15 hatched.

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

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

..not "through" things off....geez, now I'm typing like some of the morons on the kingsnake forum.......need some sleep I guess..LOL!
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com