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Lone stray egg...

DrGraeme

DrGraeme

Chiropractor
Hi guys

Its the height of summer here and as so its hatching season begining.
We have aquired about a month or so ago a pair of adult corns that have been bread before, and we plan on breeding them also next season.

Last night when I was checking on them I found a lone egg on the floor of the viv! It gave us quite a fright actually until we put 2&2 together. I think its a slug, but just in case we have started incubating it anyway and we'll se what happens.

Is this something normal that happens?? We haven't had these two for too long so are not sure if they were put together to breed, or if infact she produced any eggs this year.

So should I be worried, or start expecting a clutchload of eggs in the next few days?? It's also very late in the season here.. so I don't know what to make of it. any advise would be welcome.

Thanks everyone.
 
Anything could happen! There could be more. Sometimes females lay slugs spread a day or two apart, followed by the rest of the clutch. It could be a leftover from last time. Do you know anything about her past history? But snakes don't have to have ever been bred to lay eggs.
 
You can probably _feel_ if there are more, by placing her on the floor and letting her slide between your second and third fingers pressed into her belly, and your thumb pressing down on her spine. She has to be fairly relaxed in order for you to feel anything, though.

Also, I would provide a lay box to encourage her to lay in peace, if there are more eggs/slugs, whether you can feel anything or not.

And, if you intend to incubate and there is a chance the eggs could be fertile, I would replace her big water bowl with a small one she can't get into, and lay, and drown the eggs.
 
Thanks Nanci

Unfortunately I don't know too much about her history, but I could do a bit of digging.

I'll try and palpate her again, I tried last night but couldn't feel anything (although it wasn't on the floor so she probably wasn't that relaxed).

I'll get a laybox to her pronto and see what happens.

Thanks.
 
Update to DrGraemes post...(sorry for taking over!)
After putting a laybox in her viv she has now laid an additional 11 eggs (so 13 total).
We'r holding thumbs and hoping for the best!
 
LOL...
Yes, thanks Kirst... for keeping me on my toes.
Yip so as of yesterday we have 13 eggs in the incubator, time will tell if they're good or not.

Thanks so much for the laybox advice, it was just what she was looking for.
We have them in a temporary incubator while we are still making our propper one (didn't expect to have eggs so soon).

Will update again as soon as well can tell their viability (first eggs for us so not 100% sure, incubating them all just to be sure).
 
If they are white to cream color, dryish, and clumped together, they are most likely fertile. If they are yellow and slimy, wet, and single, they are most likely infertile.

I have never been good at candling eggs- so if you try, and don't see anything, it could just be you!

Mom will probably go blue almost immediately. I'd feed a small meal, then feed her every 5-7 days for a while after she sheds. They generally look REALLY thin after laying.
 
Thanks for the advice Nanci, will do exactly that.

Really hoping that they're all good. I did try candling the 1st 2 that came out singley but didn't see anything, I have successfully candled beardie eggs before but they were quite far along before I was certain of anything, so might wait a while before we try again.
 
20130116_222517.jpg


Not sure if I did this right... can you guys see this?

If you can, then these are the babies in question. The first 2 that were laid on their own are on the left, they are on a bed of s. moss and at a temp of 85 degF. They were all quite wet and slipery when I first took them out and put them in the box but the next day they were a lot drier.
 
I do not have a lot of experience, but the first two look like slugs

For me, candling was easy and early. I took a cool white LED bulb flashlight, and touched it lightly to each egg a few days after laying. Some lit up pink, some lit up yellow. The yellow ones turned out to be slugs. I didn't really 'look' for veins or anything, the color change in the light was fairly obvious.
 
The moss looks too wet. (Maybe it's just shiny from the flash). It should be wrung out as much as you can. If you think it's too dry, it's most likely just right. The mist on the sides should be very, very fine, not droplets. You don't need holes in the egg container- just open the lid once or twice a week and gently fan the eggs. Holes let flies in. I put a light layer of moss over the eggs- it keeps them in a darkened environment and prevents condensation from dripping on them.
 
Brilliant advice, thanks Nanci I'll get right on that.

I've heard some people put the probes for the thermostat and thermometer in the actual incubation box to "make sure that the environment inside the tub is actually what you are controlling". Is this necessary, or is having the probes just in the space of the incubator control enough?
The reason I'm asking is at the moment I am trying to measure the internal tub environment, but this is leaving a gap in the tub lid for the wires to exit. Nanci's comment about the flies has got me a bit worried though.
 
I had an aberrant clutch of snakes two years ago, and so took an in-depth look at my incubation method, at Don Soderberg's request. It is true that to get a true picture of the conditions the eggs are experiencing, you must place the probe(s) in the egg container itself. I discovered that although I had a several degree temperature variation in the incubator, the temps didn't even vary one degree within the egg container. I use organic lettuce containers, with no holes, and ran the thermometer probe under the lid, secured on each side of the cord with those stiff black binder clips, making it airtight. You could also run the wire through a hole and seal it once it was in. I wasn't very concerned with humidity, because it is easily observable.
 
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