my snake laid eggs when she was never with a male!!!

[cinnamonpython]

My 4 year old snake has laid 4 slugs but i never had her with a male. She lost allot of wait i had on her she is now 1066gm. Can i still breed her in this year? i am very confused.

[Anya]

What time this year would you like to breed her? It just depends how fast you can get her back up to weight. She should be 1500 before you breed her again.

[SlitherinSisters]

That's definitely not unheard of. The female can make copies of herself and lay fertile eggs. All the babies will be females, it's called parthenogenesis.

You could still breed her this winter if you get the weight back on her. They generally gain their weight back pretty quickly because they are very good eaters after laying.

[cinnamonpython]

yes i was planing to breed in winter but why were all the eggs slugs? Would it be bad to feed her a little more often to get her back up to weight.

thanks for all the helpful comments.

[loonunit]

Well, slugs are unfertilized eggs. They only way she could lay a fertile egg without being with a male is via parthenogenesis, using two copies of her own genes. That's fairly rare in ball pythons.

But lots of females grow follicles during breeding season, with or without a male present. Sometimes they reabsorb them, sometimes they ovulate and lay the unfertilized slugs.

[snakesRkewl]

Slugs happen when the follicle is growing and is a slug far before it ever gets to ovulation, so no, slugs are not infertile eggs they are infertile slugs.

Feed her well and give her 4 months off and she'll be back in action.

[cinnamonpython]

thanks every one

[don15681]

a slug is the product of a premature ovulation. some slugs contain a blood spot, indicating that they were fertilized at ovulation.

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pythons of the world, vol 2
david g. barker and tracy m. barker