Unexpected Eggs!!!!!!!!!

Ssssarah · #1 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:10 PM

Holy crap!!!!!!
Ok so I just woke up. I fed my snakes last night. i put them in pillow cases. One of the pillow cases has a clutch of eggs!

I have two corn snakes I keep them together, they were both male... well I guess not but I really really really thought they were! I feel so stupid. I have had snakes all of my life, how could I not have realized that one of my corn snakes was female. I don't know anything about husbandry. I don't have any equipment for it. What do I do ? How do I take care of these eggs? What happens when you cross a butter corn with an okeetee corn? My hands are shaking...

owen.richards · #2 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:15 PM

let the mother maternally incubate em, you dont need an incubater, put them in an egg box in the tank with the female, and she should incubate em, i could be wrong though

Sleepy_FF · #3 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:17 PM

hey, dont worry. both my MY corn snakes were supposed to be FEMALE... lol. there are alot of good places to read up on incubation. damp pearlite or vermiculite is good to use, a home made incubator (the eggs in a container half buried in verm or pearl, then THAT container inside another that is heated and has water)

humidity about 90%, but dont let the eggs get wet!

78-84 degrees (i tried keeping mine around 80-83)

55-70 days... the ends that were up??? try to LEAVE them up. best done by marking the tops of the eggs with felt tip markers. this is so you dont accidently drown the embryo inside.

and most of all... DONT STRESS. it does you a whole lot of no good while you worry like that. if you get even ONE to hatch, then youre doing GREAT. now sit back, relax, and enjoy being a grandma-to-be

Ssssarah · #4 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:21 PM

Do I separate the female from the male? How do you make an egg box?

Sleepy_FF · #5 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssssarah

Do I separate the female from the male? How do you make an egg box?

i made my incubator like this: 1 large tupperware container with all the eggs in it, they were buried half way in damp pearlite. i had that sitting on top of bricks inside ANOTHER container. the bricks kept the box off the heating element. it was controlled with a thermostat.

seperate the two is good. she may want food right away, she may not eat till after she sheds (my girl didnt eat until after she shed)
give her loooots of super fresh water tho, so she can soak adn drink

Ssssarah · #6 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:31 PM

so I should keep her in with the eggs or not?

Sleepy_FF · #7 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssssarah

so I should keep her in with the eggs or not?

nope. in the wild, corn snakes give VERY little to absolutely no care or special attn other than perhaps guarding them while she rests.

its fine to take them away

Ssssarah · #8 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 02:59 PM

Ok, big problem! I made the egg box. when I went to get the clutch, I carefully took her away. She looks bad. There is still an egg in her. The eggs are about twice as big around as she is. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about but I think It's stuck???? I put her back in with the clutch. She is so small now, and kind of limp.

Stargazer · #9 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 03:22 PM

Oh, poor thing! I hope you get some answers soon. Is there a vet you can call or do you have a local herp society? There was a recent thread here of someone who aspirated an egg that the snake couldn't pass. Do a search on this topic when all else fails, and keep us posted.

telefrag · #10 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by owen.richards

let the mother maternally incubate em

corn snakes don't maternally incubate.

you don't necessarily need an incubator.
you will need to put them in some type of container (mostly sealed, with vermiculite or perilite filled up about 1/2 to 3/4 the way.
slightly moisten it so that it barely clumps when you squeeze it.

place it someplace that has high humidity and will stay between 80-82 degree's fairly steadily.

You may want to see if the eggs are even any good before you go to all the trouble.

if you can post a pic, we can tell you if its worth incubating the eggs.

Ssssarah · #11 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 03:42 PM

Ok whew, what an exciting morning!
She passed the last egg. It seems like a physical impossibility that the eggs came out of her in the first place. I put them in an egg box that I made this morning easily enough with the help of all of you as soon as I returned her to her enclosure i put in the "looots of water" and man, she dunked her little head in there and start gulping it down! She did so good. I'm exhausted. I'll send pictures as soon as I can find my camera.
Thank you all soooo much!
I love this forum!

...I'm gonna be a grandmama...maybe!!!!

Stargazer · #12 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 03:58 PM

Great news that she passed the last egg! Good luck and pleeeeze keep us posted.
-- Sssstargazer

zsanorah · #13 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 08:11 PM

I know the feeling! I just recently had much the same issue but it was with a rescue. I woke up one morning...and POOF 5 eggs! AHHHhhHH WHAT DO I DO...but these great people here set me straight in no time at all.
Just a quick question while we're one the subject of cornsnake eggs....can anyone describe the physical charateristics of good and bad eggs? just wanna know what to look for.

Sleepy_FF · #14 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssssarah

Ok whew, what an exciting morning!
She passed the last egg. It seems like a physical impossibility that the eggs came out of her in the first place. I put them in an egg box that I made this morning easily enough with the help of all of you as soon as I returned her to her enclosure i put in the "looots of water" and man, she dunked her little head in there and start gulping it down! She did so good. I'm exhausted. I'll send pictures as soon as I can find my camera.
Thank you all soooo much!
I love this forum!

...I'm gonna be a grandmama...maybe!!!!

lol. my girl had her head submerged for 5 or 10 minutes straight. glad she passed that last egg. please, find your camera! i cant wait to seee

Quote:

Originally Posted by zsanorah

Just a quick question while we're one the subject of cornsnake eggs....can anyone describe the physical charateristics of good and bad eggs? just wanna know what to look for.

this is what i was told: good eggs are a nice clean white, full but a little soft to the touch. bad eggs can be splotchy, and ugly brown, wrinkled.... etc. but... like courtney said in MY hel thread, go ahead and incubate them. 2 of the eggs i thought were bad in my clutch hatched... and 2 of the good ones didnt!

Ursa Minor · #15 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 09:42 PM

Wow! Awesome...and congrats Grandma!

WHO???? · #16 (**permalink**) 06-02-2007, 11:41 PM

I echo Ursa --- congrat, grandma!!!!

Ursa, nice avatar, but I would bank those points before someone steals them.

Ssssarah · #17 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 11:23 PM

No point in getting the camera now. I messed up. I killed my eggs. I went out of town to see my little brother graduate ... still can't find my camera so I didn't get pictures of that either.

When I got back the temperature and humidity had risen too high there was water condensation to the point that I could not see the eggs. They had completely sunken in. I am so sad. Next time I'll be prepared and I'll know what to do and what to look for. Mom is doing fine looking very skinny, very flexible, and very ready to shed. I have a nice big mouse for her after she sheds. It is still weird to say "she". Thank you all for your help and concern. I plan on posting pictures of all of my animals soon, so everyone can see who I'm talking about when the next emergency happens. The plus side of the whole thing is that I am so depressed about the eggs that my husband said "next time you'll do great now that you know what to do". Next time?! hmmm... possible female boa to add to my collection in the future?...

owen.richards · #18 (**permalink**) 06-07-2007, 12:01 AM

that sucks to hear...at least your ready for next time now, lol do the boa thing, no incubator needed

MegF · #19 (**permalink**) 06-07-2007, 10:04 AM

This is the number one reason NOT to co-habitate!! Seperate those snakes! If you keep them together she might double or even triple clutch. Besides the stress of constantly being harrassed by the male, she could egg bind, which you almost experienced or get so underweight that she would be unable to recover. If you didn't even notice breeding behavior, how will you notice other more subtle going on with your two health wise???? I'm glad your female didn't have to the ultimate price! Is the female even 3 years old or over 300 grams? If not, it's even more important that you seperate them.

WHO???? · #20 (**permalink**) 06-07-2007, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ssssarah

No point in getting the camera now. I messed up. I killed my eggs. I went out of town to see my little brother graduate ... still can't find my camera so I didn't get pictures of that either.

When I got back the temperature and humidity had risen too high there was water condensation to the point that I could not see the eggs. They had completely sunken in. I am so sad. Next time I'll be prepared and I'll know what to do and what to look for. Mom is doing fine looking very skinny, very flexible, and very ready to shed. I have a nice big mouse for her after she sheds. It is still weird to say "she". Thank you all for your help and concern. I plan on posting pictures of all of my animals soon, so everyone can see who I'm talking about when the next emergency happens. The plus side of the whole thing is that I am so depressed about the eggs that my husband said "next time you'll do great now that you know what to do". Next time?! hmmm... possible female boa to add to my collection in the future?...

The first clutch always seems to be a learning experience from what I have been told and seen. It is a shame for things like that to happen and you feel bad for those eggs, but it does help you prepare for the next time. I recently lost my first clutch of Saharan sand boa eggs and when it happened, I got tot he place where I said, I won't ever breed egg layers again, but now that a month or two have passed, I see it as a learning experience and hopefully, if mom and dad will start to eat again (stubborned) I'll be having a clutch next spring. Good luck.

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