# Everglade Rat Snake Eggs Advice/Opinons Needed please



## dom_manchester (Jul 9, 2008)

Hi All, About 3 weeks ago I bought a female Everglades rat snake and was going to breed her as I had ordered a male that I am due to collect in a few weeks, but this morning while doing my morning checks on all my snakes I found 6 eggs in her tank... a big surprise to me so I fired up the incubator and set it to 83f as it goes between 82/83 on that setting but this is the first ever eggs I have had and I need to know your opinions on weather they look fertile or not I know one isnt fertile from what i have seen online as it is pretty much yello and one of them has a slight bit of yellow at one end but I am told that they can somtimes hatch so... unsure about the others and unsure if I found them on time as I last checked on my snakes yesterday evening and no eggs then so it was in the night sometime I have them on perlite as was told that would be better than vermiculite but i guess that down to the individual so yeah please give me your opinions on what you think.










Regards, Dominic.


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## gingersnap (Sep 12, 2010)

Personally they all look infertile to me, they are not rounded like healthy eggs and are quite 'off' in colour. Do you know if she was with a male before you got her? 

There is every chance she hasn't been with a male and these are just a dud clutch.


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## dom_manchester (Jul 9, 2008)

Hi thanks for your reply, she was with a male before I got her


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## SpiritSerpents (Mar 20, 2011)

gingersnap said:


> Personally they all look infertile to me, they are not rounded like healthy eggs and are quite 'off' in colour.



I agree with you on the color, but sometimes the ratsnakes will lay "torpedo" eggs that go on to hatch just fine. They're symmetrical, whereas slugs are often asymmetrical.

Are they "gooshy" when you manipulate them? A healthy egg is fairly firm, with some give to the shell, but a slug almost feels full of gel. Also, the texture of the shell itself should be dry and soft/smooth. If those are sticky or slick, they're probably slugs.


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## dom_manchester (Jul 9, 2008)

Hi thanks for your reply, they were fairly firm this morning, dry and smooth and not sticky or anything like that, could candling give me any more insight at this stage ?

regards,
Dominic.


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## SpiritSerpents (Mar 20, 2011)

There's certainly no harm in it. Candle away! There's also no harm in incubating until they go bad, if they do.


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## snakekeeperteznemz (Dec 20, 2009)

Personally i incubate anything found even remotely looking like an egg. I have bred corns for quite a while and believed i knew fertile from infertile but still incubate. Over the years iv found even eggs that appear infertile DO hatch. It doesnt cost much to run an incubator so wont hurt any. As these are your first eggs its always worth a shot even if you are convinced they are infertile. Hatched a clutch last year that were (to me) definate infertile, only for them to hatch some gorgeous stripe corns : victory: These came from eggs that look just like yours :2thumb:


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## dom_manchester (Jul 9, 2008)

Yeah my first ever cluth, I was going to incubate them anyway but always night to have an insight from someone else who has experience  thank you very much.

Regards,
Dominic.


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## dom_manchester (Jul 9, 2008)

Well I did candle them and they had no veins of anything but they are incubating i guess time will tell with these eggs lol thank you to everyone who gave their opinions they were all taken on board.

Regards,
Dominic.


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