Reticulated python with eggs

[Edcase]

WOOOOW!! thats sooooo cool

[adamanteus]

Congratulations, Fons. It's such a shame so many eggs must be destroyed, but I understand why.

[Thamnophis]

Originally Posted by drache

still curious about what you do with the other eggs . . .
and whether anyone's ever eaten one

They will be destroyed. And I personally have not eaten them.

[Thamnophis]

Originally Posted by Stefan-A

I didn't really go into details about my line of reasoning before, but I made the assumption, that the only way to "get rid" of the offspring if all eggs were saved, would be by selling them to hobbyists. The demand can't be that great among zoos, for example. Then again, I have no idea how you operate and what kind of people your snakes can be given to.

Actually, my first thought was, why did you save that one egg?

Snakes that get as big and dangerous as this are not done for most people. That's why we do not do them to others. Otherwise we get them back in the shelter in a few years.

The one we save is for our own collection in the future.

[Thamnophis]

Originally Posted by Lori P

Me too! Does it look like a chicken egg on the inside??

I didn't know you had a shelter... what a wonderful thing you're doing!!!! And how cool to have had the male for 25 years.

Looks not the same as a bird egg. Looks like a snake's egg on the inside

[Lori P]

Sooo... by the time the mother snake lays the eggs, is the baby snake already formed on the the inside then? Chickens lay an embryo.. do snakes lay a baby further along?

Do you have any pics of the inside of a snake egg?? Is the shell hard like a chicken egg?

Off the topic: Did you guys see the story today about the reticulaled python who swallowed 4 golf balls? They say they think he thought they were eggs. So do pythons also eat eggs normally? (I didn't think so).

The farmers around here all say if you have a black (rat) snake feeding on your chicken eggs, to leave golf balls in the nest boxes... I've always thought that was so horrible, what a terrible way for a snake to die. So even tho people always say rat snakes aren't egg eaters, we see it all the time and it's normal enough for the farmers to have a game plan.

[Thamnophis]

The inside is a snotty substance. After a few days you can see some bloodvessels.
When the eggs are laid, the young are not ready developing in this species.

Black rat snakes are known for their egg eating.

[drache]

Originally Posted by Thamnophis

Black rat snakes are known for their egg eating.

just black rats, or other rat snakes as well?

[Thamnophis]

Dasypeltis is an egg-eating genus.
But there are more species that eat eggs.
There is a species (do not know the name on this moment) that is specialised in Treefrog-eggs.