Unexpected eggs...

[duroo]

Hi all.

I work in the Animal Facility at Appalachian State University in NC. My boss just left yesterday for two weeks to go to Hawaii, leaving me in charge of the lab while she is gone. Today I go into the lab and find that our female Baird's Rat Snake has layed 5 eggs. We also have a male, but to my knowledge they have never been placed together, or at least not in the 5 months I have been working there. I also dont think she has ever been exposed to any other males, though it is possible I guess. My boss is gone and I cant contact her, and the only other professor that would know anything about this is currently in Vietnam. Are these simply unfertilized eggs that will not hatch? Am I the lucky witness of parthenogenesis? Has she been mated at some point without my knowledge?

Also, if there is a chance of them hatching, some pointers would be great since I have never raised baby snakes before.

Thanks
Drew