What the what?!

**EL Ziggy** · 04-13-18, 09:48 AM

So I'm working up in Augusta at The Masters last week and I call home to check on the family like I do every night. After hearing all is well with mama bear and baby bear I ask about the slithery critters. My son (8) walks through the den checking on the snakes and says one of the jungle carpets needs water and that She-RA, my bull snake, has laid eggs. I tell him that's IMPOSSIBLE because she's never been bred. He insists that he knows an egg when he sees one and that there are definitely eggs in the tank. I can't call him a liar, because he's not, so I tell him to get his mom. Wifey comes in and quickly confirms that there are at least two EGGS in the enclosure. Over the next few days she laid a total of about (16) unfertilized eggs. I'd never seen or heard of this happening but after some quick internet research and a talk with the breeder I found out that it's not very uncommon. Has anyone else had this happen in their collection?
Anyway, I got back home very early Monday morning and was still surprised to see all those eggs. Sorry I didn't take more pics

. The breeder said it was ok for me to remove them so I did and then tossed them into the woods out back. He also said I could feed her a smaller than average meal to help her get her strength back. I'll do that this weekend. All in all it was pretty cool to learn something new about these remarkable creatures.

richardhind · 04-13-18, 10:46 AM

i had a grey rat snake called 'Roland'( was a kids tv program in the 80's in the UK called Roland the rat)in the 80's that i was told was male and a few years later she laid a clutch off eggs ,never been in the same room as another snake never mind a male , so she obviously wasn't a 'Roland' so we had to rename her 'Roberta' and most years she laid eggs, i had her 17years

Albert Clark · 04-13-18, 10:50 AM

Congrats EL! The phenomenon of laying eggs w/o a male , copulation/ fertilization is known as "parthenogenesis " and happens in reptiles and mammals. Sometimes a female may fertilize one or more of the eggs on her own spontaneously. It may come from retained sperm also.

**EL Ziggy** · 04-13-18, 11:02 AM

Wow, who knew?!
Thanks for the word of the day AL

. Parthenogenesis

trailblazer295 · 04-13-18, 11:32 AM

The virgin mary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TeamSlitherin · 04-13-18, 01:25 PM

HAHAHAHAHA what a fun surprise!

MDT · 04-13-18, 06:02 PM

shoulda candled them... could've actually been fertile. pretty cool.
checking PubMed, i couldn't find any reports of parthenogenesis in Pituophis- you could get a paper out of this!

**Andy_G** · 04-13-18, 06:25 PM

More common than people think - even with pituophis - but still really cool! Thanks for sharing Zig.

VeedubDan · 04-14-18, 02:59 AM

One of my corns used to do this every year. I never actually bred her but i always candled the eggs just in case as I've heard they can retain sperm and i didn't have her from a hatchling. Does anyone know if its true that they can fertilize eggs by themselves?

craigafrechette · 04-14-18, 06:32 AM

First off, Ziggy, that's awesome, thanks for sharing!!!

Now, to the important part: you were working THE MASTERS?!?!?!??! How'd you get that gig? And what do you do?
Back when I worked at the Country Club one of the members used to work it every year. He knew somebody who got him in and was invited back each year. He would walk with one group per day, basically watching and assisting with rulings, etc... he would obviously defer to the actual officials, but acted as a pair of eyes and a middle man between players and officials. I left back in 2010, so not sure if he still does it, but it was pretty cool to hear his stories. He walked with Phil two years in a row and Leftie actually remembered him the second year. He couldn't say enough good things about Phil.

Albert Clark · 04-14-18, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeedubDan

One of my corns used to do this every year. I never actually bred her but i always candled the eggs just in case as I've heard they can retain sperm and i didn't have her from a hatchling. Does anyone know if its true that they can fertilize eggs by themselves?

Yes, there is documented reports of the females of clutches laid parthenogenically fertilizing one or more of the eggs. When this happens, the sex of the babies are most always female.

VeedubDan · 04-14-18, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Yes, there is documented reports of the females of clutches laid parthenogenically fertilizing one or more of the eggs. When this happens, the sex of the babies are most always female.

Just when I think snakes can’t get any cooler! What an amazing species

**EL Ziggy** · 04-15-18, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigafrechette

First off, Ziggy, that's awesome, thanks for sharing!!!

Now, to the important part: you were working THE MASTERS?!?!?!??! How'd you get that gig? And what do you do?
Back when I worked at the Country Club one of the members used to work it every year. He knew somebody who got him in and was invited back each year. He would walk with one group per day, basically watching and assisting with rulings, etc... he would obviously defer to the actual officials, but acted as a pair of eyes and a middle man between players and officials. I left back in 2010, so not sure if he still does it, but it was pretty cool to hear his stories. He walked with Phil two years in a row and Leftie actually remembered him the second year. He couldn't say enough good things about Phil.

Craig- I'm usually in Augusta every year for the Masters. The company that I work for owns and operates one of the nicer hospitality facilities up there so we basically cater to a bunch of international big wigs for the week. It's a long work week with 16 hour days but it's a lot of fun and I'm not even a big golf fan.

craigafrechette · 04-15-18, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL Ziggy

Craig- I'm usually in Augusta every year for the Masters. The company that I work for owns and operates one of the nicer hospitality facilities up there so we basically cater to a bunch of international big wigs for the week. It's a long work week with 16 hour days but it's a lot of fun and I'm not even a big golf fan.

That's awesome!!!

Bandit · 04-16-18, 06:59 AM

At the nature center I used to work at, we had a few corns and a couple of kings who would lay eggs almost every year, even though they were not with any males. The eggs never actually hatched, but definitely was something cool to see.