Wow. Too bad you lost some of the eggs but that must have been exciting to look in on her and see eggs you weren't expecting! Hopefully the ones that remain will hatch out ok.

I would have thought she'd be smarter than to lay the eggs in the water in the first place? Animals are supposed to have pretty good instincts about keeping their young alive. Then again, a friend of mine once had a goose that insisted on building her nest where it washed out every time it rained. Is this sort of mistake common with snakes?

It will be interesting to see what the babies look like. Do you know what sort of research the previous owner was doing? Do you even know if the sire was the same species?