Ugliest eggs ever!!!

Geez these things are ugly.... But kind of interesting looking at the same time. I was checking for eggs this morning and I just ran across these freshly laid train wrecks. They look like slugs, the shells have the same consistency and look as infertile eggs, except for those great big bold patches of veins. The shells are transparent so you can see the entire network of veins in each eggs. Really weird looking. I don't have a great deal of hope for these things, but I thought they were so interesting that they deserved a few pics.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...hons/Eggs2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...hons/Eggs4.jpg

I think the Yin-Yang symbol is a sign. It may mean that they are ugly but will bring you beautiful things.:please:

Good luck with them.

yep those are ugly... but not as ugly as a bunch of slugs

Wow if those make it, it will be real interesting to watch the snakes develop, you almost don't need to candle them!

What was the pairing Mark?

Let's hope there is a beautiful BP inside...

i've never breed before but those don't look normal... :O

not that i've ever been into breeding, but hey who knows what will come of em..it may happen, you'd be surprised.
Rusty

You aint kidding.
They look weeks old:confused:

How did they get mold on them fresh laid?

Good luck with hatching them out!

Looks like the female didn't have enough calcium??

Good luck with hatching them out!

Hmmm... I take it you have never seen anything like this before? Has this female ever laid for you before?

Myself, I have never had any P. Regius eggs, or any snake eggs at that, but I have seen something similar in other egg laying reptile species(breeding chameleons in my specific experience), and it normally means that there was a lack of calcium or UV provided to the mother during the egg development stage. I am not a BP expert by any means... But knowing that they do not require UV, I would be curious to know how their body processes calcium? I know that with the animals I work with, without proper UV exposure, their body does not process calcium into the stage where it is useful, IE. Bone strength, or egg production. And if a Gravid female is allowed to go her term with a lack of either the UV, or Calcium, the result is poorly calcified eggs, which bare a striking resemblance to your eggs.

If it is indeed poorly calcified eggs you have on your hands... they could be fertile(and those veins scream fertile IMO)... I would be curious to know what factors would contribute to this in a species that does not require UV or calcium supplementation as part of the husbandry regiment.

Any thoughts?

EDIT:

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Looks like the female didn't have enough calcium??

Good luck with hatching them out!

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Heather you beat me to it!

~Joe

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Looks like the female didn't have enough calcium??

Good luck with hatching them out!

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Will/can they still develope?

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Originally Posted by SoCaliSon

Hmmm... I take it you have never seen anything like this before? Has this female ever laid for you before?

Myself, I have never had any P. Regius eggs, or any snake eggs at that, but I have seen something similar in other egg laying reptile species(breeding chameleons in my specific experience), and it normally means that there was a lack of calcium or UV provided to the mother during the egg development stage. I am not a BP expert by any means... But knowing that they do not require UV, I would be curious to know how their body processes calcium? I know that with the animals I work with, without proper UV exposure, their body does not process calcium into the stage where it is useful, IE. Bone strength, or egg production. And if a Gravid female is allowed to go her term with a lack of either the UV, or Calcium, the result is poorly calcified eggs, which bare a striking resemblance to your eggs.

If it is indeed poorly calcified eggs you have on your hands... they could be fertile(and those veins scream fertile IMO)... I would be curious to know what factors would contribute to this in a species that does not require UV or calcium supplementation as part of the husbandry regiment.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: Heather you beat me to it!

~Joe

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Good question!

I hear feeding mice helps with calcium problems......Good luck hatching them out......

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Originally Posted by spk329

I hear feeding mice helps with calcium problems......Good luck hatching them out......

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and if they are already on a mice/rat diet?

The theory with Mice is they will eat more as most Females do during the breeding process.....More Mice...More bones....More calcium.... If you feed young Rats the bones are not fully developed so the calcium is not as good as an adult mouse

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Originally Posted by spk329

The theory with Mice is they will eat more as most Females do during the breeding process.....More Mice...More bones....More calcium.... If you feed young Rats the bones are not fully developed so the calcium is not as good as an adult mouse

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ahhh I see, well if you feed ASF's you are good then? and sm to med regular rats should be fine for calcium content

The female laid eggs for me two years ago and they looked normal. I had checked her the day before and no eggs and then yesterday, there were eggs. It is surprising that the eggs are so deflated looking. I can only surmise that as well as looking odd they don't hold moisture well. And no, there is no mold on them (yet) they actually feel pretty dry but kind of rubbery. I'm sure they are calcium deficient, I've had eggs before that were missing small patches like windows on them but never this much.

Just thought they were weird looking and that others might be interested.

And the pairing was a normal (though with a very busy dark pattern) female to a special project male.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

The female laid eggs for me two years ago and they looked normal. I had checked her the day before and no eggs and then yesterday, there were eggs. It is surprising that the eggs are so deflated looking. I can only surmise that as well as looking odd they don't hold moisture well. And no, there is no mold on them (yet) they actually feel pretty dry but kind of rubbery. I'm sure they are calcium deficient, I've had eggs before that were missing small patches like windows on them but never this much.

Just thought they were weird looking and that others might be interested.

And the pairing was a normal (though with a very busy dark pattern) female to a special project male.

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I hope all goes well.

Good luck with the eggs... I am curious to see what happens.

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Originally Posted by SoCaliSon

Good luck with the eggs... I am curious to see what happens.

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Same here, best of luck with them, I hope they all make it and hatch out some healthy babies for ya. :)

wow.. thats different!! good luck with this clutch and keep us posted on their development.

Well, here's what they look like 20 days later. Most are gone, two are hanging on by a thread. They won't plump up, I suspect that they have trouble holding moisture with such an ugly looking shell. Still a long way to go. Any bets if any of them will make it? It's not looking real good.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...hons/Ugly1.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...hons/Ugly2.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...hons/Ugly3.jpg

Ouch...

I would say No..

Sorry, Mark

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Ouch...

I would say No..

Sorry, Mark

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Oh well, we'll see. I'm actually kind of surprised that any of them made it this long.

Yikes. Sorry about that man. :tears:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Oh well, we'll see. I'm actually kind of surprised that any of them made it this long.

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I hope they do make it...

That would be an awesome story!

There is that picture floating around the internet somewhere of some tree pythons (I think?) hatching out of a pile of eggs that looked about as bad as these do now...but these still have a long way to go. :(

I'm curious if you did anything extra with these eggs to try to save them? Or did you just figure if they were meant to make it, they would?

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Originally Posted by kc261

I'm curious if you did anything extra with these eggs to try to save them? Or did you just figure if they were meant to make it, they would?

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When they started growing hair, I dabbed at them with paper towels dipped in a diluted chlorhexidine solution but that's about it. I couldn't keep up with most of them, they started sprouting fur too fast, but the last two don't seem to be rotting as quickly for some reason.