Surprise!!!

[sweety314]

Help!! Assistance and ideas would be MUCH appreciated......

Well, Ava stopped eating about five months ago...no biggee, right???

She left me a present and I found 3 eggs and six slugs tonight. It appears this girl likes to ovulate and lay w/o being mated. This is the 2nd time she's laid eggs (the prev owner said she had done the same thing a few years ago), and not having been bred. I didn't even know that she was doing so (obviously). I went ahead and took her off them. I assumed they're fertile, and put them in a tub with moist p. towels on temp controlled heat until I can get an incubator and some substrate....but I went back a few minutes ago and candled them ----no veins. Even newly laid eggs should have SOME veining, right?????

Anyway, I'll set 'em up, JIC but will candle again in a day or so, and if nothing, discard them.

Here's the kicker..... Any chance she could double clutch if I put one of my boys in with her??? I really do want some hatchlings, but the matings last year didn't even have lockups and here she's laid, but never been w/a male. < Sometimes U can't win for losing! >

....Pics maybe tomorrow if I can get the film developed in time.

[PythonWallace]

Ball pythons can't double clutch, but don't throw the eggs away until you are absolutely sure they are infertile. It's very possible that they are all infertile, but I think that more times than not, they will reabsorb the follicles if they don't get fertilized, instead of wasting all that energy producing a clutch of bad eggs. Just make sure there is no doubt before you toss them, unless you didn't want eggs, and don't have the means or desire to hatch and care for the babies.

[sweety314]

JW...Heavens no. I want them to be fertile, even if they were a "surprise"...I just don't believe they actually are, as she wasn't exposed to a male and she's done this once before. Plus, no veins. Those are the reasons why I suspect they're duds. But will wait and see.

[PythonWallace]

OK, then good luck with them. I just didn't want you to possibly throw good eggs away. Use a good flash light.

[jsmorphs2]

I hope everything works out for you. Just stay positive, you never know what nature is capable of. It will be an even bigger surprise to see what hatches out

[West Coast Jungle]

Help!! Assistance and ideas would be MUCH appreciated......

Well, Ava stopped eating about five months ago...no biggee, right???

She left me a present and I found 3 eggs and six slugs tonight. It appears this girl likes to ovulate and lay w/o being mated. This is the 2nd time she's laid eggs (the prev owner said she had done the same thing a few years ago), and not having been bred. I didn't even know that she was doing so (obviously). I went ahead and took her off them. I assumed they're fertile, and put them in a tub with moist p. towels on temp controlled heat until I can get an incubator and some substrate....but I went back a few minutes ago and candled them ----no veins. Even newly laid eggs should have SOME veining, right?????

Anyway, I'll set 'em up, JIC but will candle again in a day or so, and if nothing, discard them.

Here's the kicker..... Any chance she could double clutch if I put one of my boys in with her??? I really do want some hatchlings, but the matings last year didn't even have lockups and here she's laid, but never been w/a male. < Sometimes U can't win for losing! >

....Pics maybe tomorrow if I can get the film developed in time.

If you paired her last year,as you mentioned in your post, she could have very well held sperm for a year. Even if you dont see a lock doesnt mean it didnt happen. Most of my young males are so quick I never catch them locking yet they have produced babies.

I say incubate them until they hatch or rot

[sweety314]

Okay....so here's the pic.. and I've borrowed a friend's Hova-Bator. I'm fine tuning the temp right now, so that I can put the tub of eggs in it and see if they develop.

At least after all this, I'll have some time to build the Igloo incubator, and can be prepped for next season. Since she's laid this way w/o any designs, I'll be sure to play matchmaker, and then maybe the eggs will be (more likely) fertile.

Not giving up hope for these, but chances are slim. Checking for the correct temp now.

[sweety314]

It took 3 days to get the incubator the right temp *sheesh!!!* but the humidity, even w/saran wrap on the box and soggy, wet perlite under the light crate framing was only 68%. They were already starting to stink.

Are snake eggs laid with meat / blood spots like a chicken's egg can be???? Opened the egg that was the least icky, and found what is described in chicken terms, as a meat spot. The other two were just bleck stuff. Sad that nothing pet-able came of this experience , but it was a good learning experience for NEXT season.