WTH?! Surprise slug eggs...

[Lolo76]

Wow, today has been quite a day... first one of my BPs laid 5 beautiful eggs, and then I found a surprise clutch of infertile slugs in my Hognose's tub! I don't even have a male, and got her as a baby, so that was obviously quite unexpected.

She'd been looking really fat lately, but I just chalked it up to her increased prey size (from 2 hoppers to 1-2 adult mice), and the fact that she hadn't pooped in a while. Then when I checked on her tonight, she'd pushed all of the bedding into one corner, and it smelled kinda funny... so I pulled her out to clean the tub (noticing she felt really light), and found what looked like GRAPES under the piled bedding. I was like "How the heck did she get grapes in her tub?!" Upon closer inspection, it was obvious these were little slug eggs - 10 of 'em in total.

She's a little under two years old now, but rather large, so is this normal for them to do? And will she do it every year if I don't breed her? Also curious about the bedding pile, and if that's how Hognoses typically lay eggs (when they're fertile). It was a weird discovery, to say the least, but at least I know she's ready & willing if I do get a male. Here are some pics...



All together... doesn't the far left one look JUST like a grape? LOL


Candled them for kicks, and of course they're yellow/vein-less inside.

[Lolo76]

P.S. She hasn't skipped a meal - well, EVER - so I guess she doesn't stop eating while gravid? Or do you think she'd fast if the eggs were fertile? Maybe if she had stopped eating, I would've figured out she was "expecting."

[Jessica Loesch]

Look like nuts to me

Grats, are you going to get a male?

[Lolo76]

Look like nuts to me

LOL... yeah, I guess they could be giant almonds.

Grats, are you going to get a male?

I've been thinking about it, but just can't handle another snake right now... maybe in the near future, though, especially now that I know she's capable. I absolutely LOVE my hoggie, so it would be cool to make babies! And from what I can tell, the market for them is still fairly strong - they're becoming quite popular, and there aren't as many people breeding them (in comparison to BPs, corns, etc).

[Lolo76]

So I did a little reading, and it seems this isn't uncommon for Hognoses. They also apparently reach sexual maturity much younger than BPs... as young/small as 18 months & 200g, according to one forum I visited. Charlotte's almost 2 years old, and weighed 290g after laying those slugs - so I guess she was ready for babies!

[mainbutter]

Now that's really neat! It's kind of strange to see a snake go through and lay some slugs without being introduced to a male, but it does happen sometimes. If you hadn't already mentioned her origin, I would have asked if you got her as a proven breeder, because these guys are capable of double-clutching and are more likely to to lay some surprise slugs if they'd layed a clutch (that went either way) earlier that year.

[Lolo76]

Yeah, it is pretty weird!! I'm 110% sure she's a virgin, since she was a tiny worm when I got her... and she's never even met another hognose, let alone mated with one. She's only met (very briefly) corn snakes and pythons, and somehow I doubt that would lead to any breeding.

Tonight I was hanging out with a few colubrid-keeping friends, and they were pretty amazed by the story... especially considering her young age, and how many slugs were laid. Their reaction? "BREED HER NEXT YEAR!!!" Definitely sounding like a good idea!