# my corn snakes just laid eggs, what should i do???



## hedgehogjojo (Jul 7, 2008)

so I recently purchased a breading pair of corns but I didn't think my female was carrying eggs as she was not gaining any wait

today i look in the viv to receive a warning hiss from my female when i tried to take her out for feeding

i looked over the other end of the viv to get my male instead and see a big pile of eggs!

there's at least sixteen, possibly a few more hidden underneath, i didn't want to move them

i currently am at a loss on what to do

i'm waiting for my local pet shop owner, who sold me the snakes, to call me back but beyond that i'm hopeless

i know i seem ill prepared and okay, thats because i am, everyone i've talked to and everything i've read says that you can clearly tell when the female in pregnant and should have time to get ready before she starts laying her eggs

so what now?

i don't want to just look at stuff online because it's not always right 

the eggs are not as rounded as ones i've seen in pictures so i'm not 100% sure if their fertilized 

help please


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## alex_c (Jul 7, 2008)

you would have more luck asking this question on US forum etc.
as this is an australian forum and corn snakes are highly illegal here.
but as to your question the eggs may be viable as freshly laid eggs are usually deflated like that and swell up a fair bit. i would suggest that you look up incubation of corn snake eggs and put together an incubator if you want to incubate them.

hope that helps you


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## The Devil (Jul 7, 2008)

This is an interesting question from someone who brought a BREEDING pair of snakes.
So she didn't appear to be gaining weight, well I would reckon that unless you have been feeding her there is no way she would gain weight.

What to do with the eggs, well I would suggest 3 minutes in boiling water, toast and tomato sauce.

Maybe just maybe you shouldn't have brought a breeding pair until you had some knowledge about what to do with eggs......................


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## Nephrurus (Jul 7, 2008)

Very helpful everyone!

The simplest thing to do is turf them. If you aren't prepared to incubate and hatch eggs, you probably won't be ready for getting tiny tiny corn snakes feeding. Read up and get ready for breeding next year. 

Otherwise you can build (or buy) an incubator and incubate the eggs. If you're going to do this you'll want to get those eggs somewhere moist, warm and humid to rehydrate. For the moment they can go on some moist paper towel in a sealed container (tupperware). Hopefully they won't dry out too much more. Now you have to get an incubator and incubation medium sorted, a whole different kettle of fish. Good luck.

If i was in your position I'd feed the eggs to my goannas and try breeding the following year when I was fully prepared. 


And the Devil, you're a sicko... you can't put tomato sauce on boiled eggs!!! 


-H


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## nightowl (Jul 7, 2008)

The Devil said:


> What to do with the eggs, well I would suggest 3 minutes in boiling water, toast and tomato sauce.



mmmmmm..... you just decided what I am having for breakie


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## hedgehogjojo (Jul 10, 2008)

ok, i exaggerated a bit to get more replys

i did discuss the whole process of breeding the snakes before i bought them

i did this with my local pet shop owner who knows me personally and what i can cope with

as well as this we discussed the equipment i already had at home and what i could use to make a home incubator etc

just it was a long time ago, okay i should have wrote it down but i have read online that you can clearly tell when the female is carrying eggs

when i found the eggs i freaked, i couldn't get in touch with my pet shop guy and after the advice i'd already read on websites had clearly been wrong i didn't want to risk it

so asking advice where i can get it from a number of different people and have advice on their advice

i did have a basic idea but i didn't want to get anything wrong so i didn't want to do anything before checking first

good job i got in touch with the guy from the pet shop as i didn't get much, if any help here

all set up now, but rather put off asking for any other help if i need it

thanks to those who tried , though the thing i was after was more presise advice, okay i didn't specify but maybe in future, if someone says they have no idea then just genral advice isn't going to be that useful, though, again, thank you for trying


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## herptrader (Jul 10, 2008)

In the short term I would place them in a sealed plastic container with some sort of dampened incubating medium (eg perlite, vermiculite or even sphagnum moss) and put the container back inside the enclosure with the snakes close to where they were laid.

This should "look after them" until you have done your research.


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## Dragon1 (Jul 10, 2008)

Do you _have to_ put eggs in an incubator?
Can't the mother just look after then, like she would in the wild?

Dragon1


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## snakehunter (Jul 10, 2008)

Dragon1 said:


> Do you _have to_ put eggs in an incubator?
> Can't the mother just look after then, like she would in the wild?
> 
> Dragon1



Only pythons care for their eggs. Other snakes find a suitable spot in the wild, lay them there and leave. In captivity it would be very hard to provide a natural incubation site for non-maternal snakes


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## Dragon1 (Jul 10, 2008)

Ok, so if my python lays eggs, I don't need 2 incubate them?

Dragon1


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## herptrader (Jul 10, 2008)

Dragon1 said:


> Ok, so if my python lays eggs, I don't need 2 incubate them?
> 
> Dragon1



Again they would find a suitable spot to incubate them themselves which is hard to do in captivity. Very few people leave their pythons to do the maternal incubation thing.


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## disasterpiece7.0 (Jul 10, 2008)

I think what you need to understand here is that corn snakes are illegal in Australia, and You've posted this on an Australian reptiles forum. Yes there are people on here from other parts of the world, but the vast majority are aussie, and can only offer general tips as we don't keep corn snakes.


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