Parthenogenisis

I gave a colleague at work a Corn Snake that I hatched out 8 years ago. Now, he has had her from a hatchling, she has never seen another Corn Snake, let alone paired or locked with one. Last weekend she decided to lay 21 eggs. 2 of them were white, the others definite slugs. I ditched the slugs and candled the 2 white ones. The one shows some red dots inside and the other a thin red streak, possibly a vein. I have had them in the incubator for a week and will candle them again tomorrow night. I post a pick of the clutch, and will post a result of the candling tomorrow night if anything looks promising. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0a2c68c2c6.jpg

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Good luck but don't get your hopes up. I have 2 adult female Florida rat snakes (yellow x gulf hammock & maybe some Everglades?) that have never mated
either, and every year each one produces double clutches of slugs AND what look like some good eggs, (over 2 dozen each) but the ones that appear viable
always go bad eventually. These poor girls try so hard to populate the planet with their kids, and I have adult mates* in the other room too, I'm SO "mean"...
*Actually their brothers, & even if they weren't, I don't need to be mass-producing them...yikes! they are SO FERTILE! And they're about 11 years old now
too...I hope they slow down, or better yet, just knock it off! :) The males are twice the size of the females, they spend so much just making those eggs!

I have had true parthenogenesis take place many years back with an older rosy boa given to me by a nature museum where she'd been housed with 2 other
females for most of her life thus far (about 15 years). Long story...:snake: but with apparently no mate ever, she had a live baby for me. Sad though, it had
defects (one eye, crooked neck) & only lived 8 mos.- so rather than chance her doing that again next year (since her health was vastly improved under my care),
I decided to put her with a healthy male, & for 5 years she tried to fill the world with rosy boas. She had 49 neonates total, all healthy & feisty & not inbred,
before I finally convinced her to retire. She passed away at roughly age 26 after being with me for her last 11 years...she was a cool ol' mama :snake: for sure!
I truly never wanted to breed rosy boas, & especially not an older female, but one year when she didn't breed, she nearly died: see the live babies pretty much
push their own way out, but with slugs and an old snake that had poor muscle tone (she'd been chronically under-fed in the museum, refusing food due to stress
and inadequate heat in their cages) she was so weak after pushing out slugs that I thought she might die. I tube-fed her for a few weeks & she recovered...she
really amazed me. So that's why I let her breed for 5 years, until I sensed she really would quit...& she did, finally. She was "retired" for another 5 years after
that.

The eggs were smelling, I threw them away.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reptilius

The eggs were smelling, I threw them away.

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Last year, I saved (in refrigerator) my rat snake eggs that appeared good (& didn't smell), since I had an upcoming snake "meet n' greet" scheduled in a couple
months. The eggs made it to the informal sharing...didn't spoil...and people had no idea they weren't fresh, but of course I told them they weren't fertile, it's just
that people "connect" to snakes better by seeing more than just the snake..."show & tell" :). Sheds are enjoyed too.

You never know though, as I understand it, parthenogenesis is more "common" among egg-layers than among live-bearing snakes? Better luck next time. ;)

To close this saga, not fertile and not smelling good, disposed of them.

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