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Corns and Bird Eggs

rolandslf

rolandslf

New member
Corns are opportunistic at times. They will eat virtually anything, this is why their survival rate is so positive.

Here is a Corn eating a Bantam Chicken Egg

The pic does not belong to me, but I just could not resist posting it. This photo has not been interfered with or photoshopped in any way. It is True.

CornSnakeEatingEgg.jpg
 
I remember seeing a video of a hognose munching on a hard boiled egg and a corn eating something like six quail or dove eggs. They are quite adaptable... :D
 
But without the "tooth" that normal egg-eating snakes possess, how will it crack the egg open to get the good stuff? I will assume that even though corns, and the other species, might swallow bird eggs and other things, they simply regurgitate it once they realize they can't digest it.
 
Actually, with enough pressure, such as what's being produced by muscles moving food down the throat, the egg can be opened. Plus, wouldn't the stomach acid and flora (which can digest bone, hair, scales, ect) be able to open a simple shell?

Here's the video I was talking about. At about 2:10 and 5:45 you can see the corn burst the egg open in its throat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2E8xKLIIVU

According to the description, the owner has done it many times.
 
I'm sure the size of the egg matters quite a bit. Small dove eggs are not chicken eggs, even if it's a smaller Bantam chicken egg. Cracking an egg shell really isn't all that easy. You try taking a chicken egg and cracking it by only using equal pressure coming from all around it. Not an easy task. And yes, the stomach acid would probably digest some of the shell, but I do see quite a bit of undigested hair in my snakes poop, and I'm sure there is a very good reason why true egg-eating snakes regurgitate the shell. If it was so easy to digest, I would think they would do that rather than go through the trouble of regurging it. Would a corn snake eat small bird eggs if it found a nest? Sure, but is it a staple to it's diet? I doubt it. And would I feed my corns chicken eggs? Not a chance.
 
The black rats in my area survive by eating almost exclusively on what they find in bird nests in the Spring and Summer, eggs or hatchlings. I'm sure the corn snakes do too. I have a large black rat that can eat a half dozen chicken eggs at a time (more if I gave them to him) by crushing them as he swallows. There is no regurge, the shells are digested just like bones.
 
My Hognose girl ate some robin eggs awhile back!

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She had zero problems digesting, didn't regurge. The eggs cracked shortly after she swallowed them, less than 1/3 of the way down, with just the normal muscle contractions of swallowing. I'm a fan of giving my snakes a varied diet, and I enjoyed watching her enjoy her "treat". :)
 
I gather, from what I have read, that people who feed eggs to their corns hear the egg break on the way down to the stomach. I am not sure I would offer a cornsnake a bantam egg but I'm not sure I wouldn't. Great pictures everyone!
 
I vaguely recall that snakes use contraction to press the egg against the spine, giving it the hard leverage needed to crack them.

But, I can't recall where I read that, so don't hold it as gospel.
 
GothPixel said:
I vaguely recall that snakes use contraction to press the egg against the spine, giving it the hard leverage needed to crack them.

But, I can't recall where I read that, so don't hold it as gospel.
Click to expand...

I remember reading the same.
 
Wow, I have never seen that before.

My mum has bantams, and although it's tempting to see if Charlie would know what to do with an egg, I think to be safe I'll keep scrambling them for myself :)
 
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