# Snakes Double Clutching?



## emma18x (Apr 15, 2008)

This is probably a stupid question but anyway..
I've heard a lot of people say that their snake double clutched this season, last season whichever. And obviously this means they laid 2 clutches of eggs but what i don't get is how they get them to do this or is it just something that happens on the off chance?


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## animalfreak (Jan 4, 2006)

this is something that just happens.
we have had 3 double clutch this year and they all laid there second clutch about 5 weeks after thier first.
they retained sperm from there mating and this fertalised the second clutch.
if they double clutch once they often do it again


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

emma18x said:


> This is probably a stupid question but anyway..
> I've heard a lot of people say that their snake double clutched this season, last season whichever. And obviously this means they laid 2 clutches of eggs but what i don't get is how they get them to do this or is it just something that happens on the off chance?


my bairds rat double clutched this year...wasnt expecting it.


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## animalfreak (Jan 4, 2006)

we had 1 lay her second clutch just last week 
this is the first year we have had her so we were not expecting that 
either


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

You can either put the male back in with the female after she lays, thus increasing the chances of her laying another clutch - but this is often stressful and takes a lot out of a female, forcing her to double clutch when she may not have physically been up to it, and not that many breeders will actually do this.

On the other side, some snakes you just can't stop double clutching, they will retain the sperm, and lay a 2nd clutch of eggs, whatever you do - this is natural, and most breeders learn which of their females are more prone to double clutching than others. Sometimes the sperm doesn't stretch far enough and the 2nd clutch isn't fertile, but it often is.

Often a female who double clutches will do so fairly regularly, I have some corns that have never double clutched in their lives - and others who I can guarantee will do. In my experience the trend is towards larger corn snakes who are not bred early that double clutch, but this is only my limited experience of my collection and obviously may not apply to others, as there are no hard and fast rules as to which snakes will retain sperm.


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## leejay (Jul 18, 2007)

Athravan said:


> You can either put the male back in with the female after she lays, thus increasing the chances of her laying another clutch - but this is often stressful and takes a lot out of a female, forcing her to double clutch when she may not have physically been up to it, and not that many breeders will actually do this.
> 
> On the other side, some snakes you just can't stop double clutching, they will retain the sperm, and lay a 2nd clutch of eggs, whatever you do - this is natural, and most breeders learn which of their females are more prone to double clutching than others. Sometimes the sperm doesn't stretch far enough and the 2nd clutch isn't fertile, but it often is.
> 
> Often a female who double clutches will do so fairly regularly, I have some corns that have never double clutched in their lives - and others who I can guarantee will do. In my experience the trend is towards larger corn snakes who are not bred early that double clutch, but this is only my limited experience of my collection and obviously may not apply to others, as there are no hard and fast rules as to which snakes will retain sperm.



excellent reply
can you confirm the time frame for a second clutch?


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