Slugs/Egg question

[branxmuffin]

My female snow started laying eggs yesterday. I have never had a snake lay eggs, so I asked advice from my local reptile store (where I purchased her from almost a year ago). They rudely told me there was no way she could be laying fertilized eggs if she hasn't been mated since I got her, despite being housed with other corns in their store until I got her in August. They told me the egg could look fertilized but it's just "full of yolk".

Anyways, I agreed that the eggs all looked like slugs. Her first egg dropped around 1pm yesterday and as of 8am this morning, she's laid 20 and I can see at least 3 more waiting to be laid. All the slugs have started yellowing and looking ick...except 2 that she laid yesterday. They are small, although slightly bigger than the rest and haven't started discoloring like the others before and after it. So I have 2 questions...
#1] I have read other snakes laying slugs, but never so many. Is it normal to have such a big clutch if they're all unfertilized? She's going to have at least 23 total.
#2] Is it possible that the 2 slightly bigger ones could be fertilized? (posting pic). It's fine if they are slugs, I'd just feel horrible if they weren't and I tossed them out.
Any answers/input would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time having a snake lay eggs, slugs or otherwise, so it's been kinda freaky.

 

[diamondlil]

The bigger, whiter eggs look like they could be fertile to me. If it's a clutch due to retained sperm from before you got your snake, that would explain the high proportion of slugs. Go ahead and incubate 'em, you've got nothing to lose!

 

[branxmuffin]

Here's a second pic

 

[Draekaar]

if it's been under a year since you got the snake and she was co-habbed, then it's quite possibly retained sperm, sometimes it stays retained for up to 2 years, though incredibly rarely. 1 is commonly heard of though. most of the retained sperm becomes infertile after a year though, so that's why probably you have lots of slugs. snakes have also been known to just lay a random infertile clutch when they've never been bred at all. it's just another silly things snakes do

I'd try incubating the whiter ones

 

[Wyldrose]

My amel female had a clutch of 26 slugs so it is possible. My 2 girls who had fertile clutches both laid 8 eggs lol!!

 

[branxmuffin]

Thanks for the responses
I carefully removed the 2 eggs that looked like they could be fertile, and incubated them. They were stuck to 2 slugs, which I left alone and just took all 4. Is that bad? All the slugs, besides the two that are clustered with the good eggs, have already turned really yellow/brown and icky looking. She's at 24 eggs total now. Should she be done soon? She first dropped around 1pm yesterday.

 

[Dzerp]

leave em i opened what i thought was a dead egg day 60 n found a snow stripe perfect major screw up on my part n i feel like crap

 

[Christen]

Yeah if the snake was housed with other snakes at one time it is possible for some of the eggs to be fertile. Cases of retained sperm happen all the time. Good Luck!

 

[Shiari]

If you can do something like the following picture to the eggs with very little pressure applied... they're slugs. A slug is also tacky feeling and 'gooshy' when manipulated (unless it has dried out, at which point it becomes hard like a rock) whereas a potentially fertile egg is dry and has an almost paper/parchment like consistency.

 

[branxmuffin]

Thanks! I'm pretty comfortable saying that out of the 24 she laid, there were in fact 2 fertilized ones :-D

 

[ceduke]

that's a nice surprise