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chicken eggs?

No. Some snakes are specifically 'Designed' (For want of a better word) to eat eggs. Corn's are not. Stick to mice. :)
 
"Many snakes will eat prey that is just placed in the tank. Occasionally, a quail egg can be offered to wild-caught specimens. If the snake likes it, one can be offered every couple of weeks. (Since quail eggs purchased in stores or from hatcheries are unlikely to be fertilized, they should not form a regular part of the main diet.) "

http://www.anapsid.org/corn.html
 
For one, captive bred corn snakes no longer have the same instincts to feed that wild ones do. Many will only eat a specific kind of prey (mice). Some will even starve themselves to death when there is no availability of that prey item. True, some snakes will only accept live mice rather than prekilled, but the instinct is still strong for rodent prey.

Second, it can be very unhealthy and even dangerous to try and feed eggs to a corn snake. The snakes that do readily eat eggs have a specific tooth like structure in the back of their throats to break open the egg as it is being swallowed. The shell itself cannot be digested. So now you have two problems. The corn snake cannot break open the shell to get to what is inside and may become blocked by trying to pass a complete shell. The other major problem is that like I said, shells are not digestable. Even if you managed to crack open the egg before giving it to the snake it would have to regurgitate the broken pieces of shell. Regurgitation is not something that you want to purposely cause a corn snake to do.

Go to the Reptiles Magazine website. About two or three issues ago there was an article on egg eating snakes and how they are specifically made to eat such items. It also explains how it is extremely difficult and unhealthy to give eggs to any other species.
 
I searched around just to know about it a few months ago. From what I did find, sometimes quail eggs can be offered.

I think chicken eggs are a very bad idea. Chickens eggs you often find at the grocery are a product of chickens bred to have eggs that are harder then they really need to be normally so that more survive shipping. The egg might not break or if/when the egg did break, the leftover shell might cause problems.
 
Arcanefate said:
Second, it can be very unhealthy and even dangerous to try and feed eggs to a corn snake. The snakes that do readily eat eggs have a specific tooth like structure in the back of their throats to break open the egg as it is being swallowed.
Click to expand...

the article that i showed you was care for corn snakes, not snakes in general.
 
Petco is selling a book that recommends the feeding of chicken eggs (fertilized) and baby chicks... interesting. But in the same chapter it says never to feed anything to your snake that's 1.5 times bigger that it's NECK!

I'll post later the author's name, but frankly this whole dang book seems suspect to me..
 
tom e said:
Petco is selling a book that recommends the feeding of chicken eggs (fertilized) and baby chicks... interesting. But in the same chapter it says never to feed anything to your snake that's 1.5 times bigger that it's NECK!

I'll post later the author's name, but frankly this whole dang book seems suspect to me..
Click to expand...
Many people write or say things believing they know whats best. Half the time they are only speculating in order to make you interested.
Case in point:
Petco has put Crickets and feeder guppies in with corn snakes saying they are a tasty treat. They say it came from a book of theres. I asked the attendant, she was right, it was in the book. But the book was dead wrong.

Petsmart has a book that says you can feed Cat food to Sugar Gliders. I own and breed gliders. Bad idea. For one, they can't have preservatives because it can affect their liver.

I own a book called "Exotic Pets Manual for the Beginner". I bought it from Barnes & Noble when I was in college. It says Corn snakes and all snakes genders are determined by the temperature of incubation. That is also not true.

I could write a book right now describing how eating your dog's Pooh is good for your skin tone and healthy for your hair. It would cost some money, but I could have it published, and it won't be tested for authenticity. No one is to say I am telling the truth or not. Maybe it does. But, no one wants to prove it before the book hits the shelves. My point is, anyone can write a book and sell it to you as fact. The difference is knowing the source and investigating other sources to find out the real answer.

You did a good job coming here and asking. Please take the advise given to you. Unless you want to risk the health of your animal, please don't feed it eggs.
 
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Bad books caused the death of a ball python I was keeping... His name was Deamon. I didn't understand how suseptable to stress he was and as such he died. Since then I have done much more research and spoken over the phone with several ball python breeders and I hope to attempt to keep this kind of snake again.

Misinformation can be deadly to your animals. Take heed with what you do. There is no need to feed your snake bird eggs. Mice are their food of choice, everything else is a temporary or extreme case, really. If you cannot afford to feed them mice be sure to consider if you are truly prepared, mentally and financially, to care for corn snakes.

Also, consider that if one book is telling you egg feeding is ok, and dozens of other books and people are saying it's not, then perhaps it truly is not.

I just don't want you to learn what can come from misinformation. Do you think it made me feel smart or intelligent that after weeks of research and terrarrium preperation I finally get my little ball python in the mail just to have him refuse meal after meal and end up belly up a few months? Save yourself grief. Feed your cornsnake mice. If he won't eat them, let us know and we'll point you in the right direction on how to handle non-feeders.
 
Back in the '80s we used to keep chickens - regular size and little banties. I occasionally fed a bantum egg to adult corns and rat snakes. I have also known people to feed finch eggs or quail eggs on occasion.

It is not unusual to find wild snakes (usually large yellow rats) in chicken coops, eating eggs or chicks. They don't break them and spit out the shell like African egg eaters. They seem to digest them ok. Regular sized chicken eggs are pretty big for corns, but small bird eggs work if they are not TOO clean and odor - free.

However, the snake feces will usually be pretty slimy and smelly, so I don't really recommend it. And they usually won't eat store eggs that have been super cleaned and don't smell like birds anymore.

I think rodents provide better nutrition as the major part of the diet. But I do feed chicks now and then for variety. And I would consider occasional small eggs if I produced them myself, knew they were fresh, and the snakes were interested. But if you have to pick one item, rodents would be the choice.
 
I have no desire to feed eggs to my snakes when rodents are so easy to come by. That said, I have seen black snakes climb the rafters of an indoor horse arena and go from nest to nest and empty them out. It was kind of nice to have the birds decide to go some place else :)
 
"I have no desire to feed eggs to my snakes when rodents are so easy to come by..."

I sure have to agree with you there! Especially since I remember the stinky cages when I did feed eggs.
 
So your bp died because you couldnt get it to eat, or it wouldnt eat because it was under stress from having no hides and being handled to much before it could settle in?
 
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