Ratsnakes eating eggs?

[Bogertophis]

So sorry for your loss. Try not to blame yourself because there are so many other things that could’ve caused the death. Certainly “sudden death” tops the list and is most times unexplained. Also, chicken eggs are in the food chain of all rat snakes and it’s less likely that it was that. Don’t let this deter you from getting back into keeping another reptile. Thanks.

Personally, I'd still avoid the risk of feeding chicken eggs to snakes, & I have domestic rat snakes that are more than "big enough". Domestic chickens raised as pets or for egg production have very thick shells, and those shells are very sharp when broken. They can do lethal internal damage before digestive enzymes are able to work & the more graphic description of the snake's symptoms privately shared with me do suggest this is what happened. I urge anyone to think twice before offering a chicken egg to their snake- I personally would never take that chance, even if it sometimes seems to have been okay. (Unfortunately a necropsy was not done so all we have are "best guesses".)

Just a reminder that African egg-eating snakes have a special adaptation that allows them to puncture the eggs they consume, & they also evolved the ability to spit out the broken shells. While many snakes in the wild (notably rat snakes & bull/gopher/pine snakes) do prey on eggs, we don't necessarily see the "rest of the story" for what happens days later when they eat domestic chicken eggs as opposed to the much-thinner-shelled eggs of wild birds. What wild snakes that are desperate for food are willing to do should not be a guide for what we give our pets, should it?

Remember that a snake's digestive enzymes also require warmth to digest well. Any of us that have kept snakes for a while realize that snakes don't always follow "the rules" after eating- some of them head for the cooler areas. It occurs to me that might also have been a factor here- but we'll never know. African egg-eating snakes don't digest the eggshells- they regurgitate them. And we all know that our snakes are not "good at" regurgitating- they can die from aspirating (into their lung) even a normal rodent meal. Please don't risk your pets life with chicken eggs.