Gopher snake escaped and laid eggs!!!

[thebrandonisgood]

I didn't know she was gravid yet so I didn't have a nest box in there for her. I guess she realized there was not a sutible place for laying eggs in her cage and escaped. It was the most impressive serpent escape I had ever seen! I had the lid on tight with ducktape on both ends tight. I'm really not sure how she slid out without hurting herself, especially with a belly full of eggs. Anyway she found on of my big house plants and dug it up some but didn't lay the eggs in it. I think she tried but they fell onto the carpet next to the pot. I put the 3 eggs in some moist moss in a styrofoam cooler in my very warm kitchen. Then over 36 hours later she laid 4 more eggs! Once again I wasn't prepared because I thought she was done laying. So I put those eggs in with the others. I have never attempted pituophis breeding so I don't know how hardy the eggs are. Anyone have any advice for me? They were quite soft at first of course but yesterday had hardened "patches" on them. Basically I just need to know at what point I should feel comfortable about continueing to incubate them or when to give up and throw them out!

[snakebiteAZ1]

as they still look healthy.. I have had some turn kinda nasty looking, but still hatched fine. So don't give up on them.. Keep the temps around 82-84 degrees F, and the humidity close to 100%, not sopping wet, but very moist. I use vermiculite in rubbermaid containers.. Good luck!! Keep us informed how they are doing. Oh, if the eggs start to dimple up, it means there is not enough humidity, spray the substrate down to re-moisten it.. It sounds harder than it really is... Mike

[thebrandonisgood]

Thanks man. I just checked in there again and it really stinks. One of the "older" eggs has some green on it. That can't be a good sign...

[thebrandonisgood]

Here I took a picture of them today. You can kind of see the green on one of them. I don't think they are rotting though because as warm as I'm keeping them they would have started smelling really bad right? And they don't stink anymore. They are soft in some places but hard in other places. Is that normal? The only other eggs I've hatched were small lizard eggs and they were firm all over so I'm worried.

[thebrandonisgood]

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h320/skronkykong/snakes/Picture001.jpg

[snakebiteAZ1]

are more white, but i have had some that looked similiar to those still hatch.. Just keep an eye on them until you really see them deteriorating.. Mike