Surprise Clutch - Oh what fun!

[TJ_Burton]

Scenario:
I came home from a long day at work, and as per the usually took a trip into my herp room to check on my snakes. I just recently did a massive clean up and room rearrangement to optimize things, and I wanted to see how everyone was doing post-shuffle. After going through my balls, I went on to my hoggies and took a look in everyone's bin. As per the usually a couple of the girls were stuffed into their shed/lay boxes where the humidity is a little higher (typical during shedding or prior to feeding as they root around looking for a meal). Something a little funny looking caught my eye when I took a peak into my larger girl's lay box (where she was at the time). I thought, that can't be right... I pulled out the lay box with her inside and cracked the lid off. Yep, she seems to have laid a clutch of slugs (knowing that I haven't paired her to any males since I acquired her late August of this year) but to my surprise, 2 of the 12 eggs were fertile. "Oh cool" I thought, at least this isn't a complete waste. Then I realized, wait... I have never paired her to any males. Hmmm… time to contact the previous owner. I tossed out the obvious duds (I candled them and they were green without a vein to speak of) and set up the old incubator a few months earlier than expected for the pair of mystery eggs.

I then contacted the previous owner who I acquired 3 hognose snakes from, two 'normal' female adults, and a small (35g) male double het snow. I asked if she had ever been paired to any males in his possession, and if so, how long ago it was and if he had witnessed any locks. He told me that in May of this year, he had put her into the small double het snow male's bin while he cleaned out her bin (he was a mere 25g at that time) but that he didn't see any lock and would be shocked if he managed to get anything done during that time frame. He also let me know that the 3 hogs I got from him were the only hogs he has ever owned, and that the female was in his possession for a year or so before that. So currently the only possible father is the double het snow male, who was tiny at the time they were introduced to each other.

Well, if the male did get the job done in May, that means she retained sperm for 5 months or better, and that the 6 hours she spent out of an enclosure while being transferred from the previous owner to myself triggered her breeding cycle (which adds up considering she laid last night; roughly 2 months later). The male's age as well as how long ago they were accidentally paired could explain why only 2 of 12 eggs were fertile, but at the same time I still can't believe a 25g male would successfully court and breed a nearly 500g female in under 30 minutes.

Long story short:
I have two fertile eggs in the incubator from a completely unexpected clutch of 12 eggs from a female I never paired to any males personally. There is a slim chance she copulated with a double het snow male that was 25g and likely too small to breed successfully. Now I get to sit and wait to find out what pops out of those two fertile eggs, and hope that the offspring help me determine the parents. If not, I will have to hold them both back to find out if the double het snow was successful.

Actions taken:
Hognose females love to double clutch, so after I made sure she was empty, I threw in my proven breeder male (normal) and he locked with her right away. Hopefully the next clutch will be completely fertile; I hate to see so many eggs go to waste. I also kick up the feeding regiment for females that are currently breeding, especially for those who have already laid one clutch. This feeding regiment also includes dusting damp rodents in Calcium with D3 as hognose females are notorious for producing poorly calcified eggs when double clutching.



Anyways,
Just thought I would share my interesting little story. I will take a pic of the two eggs in the incubator and the current lock (if it is still going on when I get home tonight) to add a little eye candy to this thread.