St. Louis Zoo says python laid 7 eggs without male help - FaunaClassifieds
FaunaClassifieds  
  Tired of those Google and InfoLink ads? Upgrade Your Membership!
  Inside FaunaClassifieds » Photo Gallery  
 

Go Back   FaunaClassifieds > Reptile & Amphibian - General Discussion Forums > Herps In The News

Notices

Herps In The News Local or national articles where reptiles or amphibians have made it into the news media. Please cite sources.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-12-2020, 07:26 PM   #1
JColt
St. Louis Zoo says python laid 7 eggs without male help

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Experts at the St. Louis Zoo are trying to figure out how a 62-year-old ball python laid seven eggs despite not being near a male python for at least two decades.

Mark Wanner, manager of herpetology at the zoo, said it unusual but not rare for ball pythons to reproduce asexually. The snakes also sometimes store sperm for delayed fertilization.

The birth also is unusual because ball pythons usually stop laying eggs long before they reach their 60s, Wanner said.

“She’d definitely be the oldest snake we know of in history,” to lay eggs, Wanner said, noting the she is the oldest snake ever documented in a zoo.

The python, which has not been given a name, laid the eggs July 23. Three of the eggs remain in an incubator, two were used for genetic sampling and snakes in the other two eggs did not survive, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The eggs that survive should hatch in about a month.

The genetic sampling will show whether the eggs were reproduced sexually or asexually, called facultative parthenogenesis.

The only other ball python in the zoo’s herpetarium is a male that's about 31. The snakes aren't on public view.

The private owner gave the female to the zoo in 1961. She laid a clutch of eggs in 2009 that didn't survive. Another clutch was born in 1990 but those eggs might have been conceived with the male because at the time, the snakes were put in buckets together while keepers cleaned their cages.

https://news.yahoo.com/st-louis-zoo-...sf_akfmevaatca
 
Old 10-05-2020, 08:57 PM   #2
spawn
That's wild. I can't believe sperm would stay healthy or even alive for that amount of time lol. The fact that some reptiles retain sperm at all still blows my mind, even if it is for a year or two.
 

Join now to reply to this thread or open new ones for your questions & comments! FaunaClassifieds.com is the largest online community about Reptile & Amphibians, Snakes, Lizards and number one classifieds service with thousands of ads to look for. Registration is open to everyone and FREE. Click Here to Register!

 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
800 GRAM FEMALE BALL PYTHON LAID 4 EGGS hussler1984 Ball Pythons Discussion Forum 47 02-15-2022 06:06 PM
just laid eggs mojobean Bearded Dragons Discussion Forum 5 10-08-2015 10:12 AM
Aussie water python laid 12 eggs redhood23 Pythons Discussion Forum 3 04-21-2011 04:47 PM
vid of large ball python (she laid eggs) irishanaconda Ball Pythons Discussion Forum 26 04-20-2010 12:10 PM
ut oh she laid some eggs timboi Geckos Discussion Forum 7 11-17-2004 03:24 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:42 PM.







Fauna Top Sites


Powered by vBulletin® Version
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Page generated in 0.06601191 seconds with 12 queries
Content copyrighted ©2002-2022, FaunaClassifieds, LLC