Magic snake eggs

[vuduman]

I'm sure some of you might have seen this,but have you ever taken a closer look?


These are just eggs that a wild caught Souther Brown eggeater dropped a while ago.The eggs are full of little spots,and some places the eggs are almost seethrough,like a calcium defisiancy.
All the eggs are entirely motled with tiny elevated spots and it almost looks aranged in a pattern to cover the entire egg.


I don't understand quite why this happened as the eggeater obviousely eats enough eggs and the eggs are healthy as can be.
They should hatch in the next couple weeks.
Are the spots maybe a byproduct of too mutch calcium?
Here is a close-up picture of the spotted eggshells.I had to enhance the image digitally for you to be able to see what MAGIC lies on the shells!
Unmistakably...IT IS LITTLE STARS!


INTERESTING?I thought so

[Silvrav]

Hi

Is it in the shell? or is it a substance that can be rubbed of?

Very interesting, and the first time I see this.

Keep us posted, as would love to see what they look like once hatched.

[vuduman]

Hi Silvrav.
Sorry I didn't stipulate.It is part of the shelll and has been there since the moment they where laid.
You can feel the little elevated bumps under the fingers like BRAILE ,and its definately not coming off.
The eggs have doubled in size with the little ones growing inside allready.
These eggs are about 60 days old,so it could be close,however,I have had eggeater eggs hatching in 106 days!

[Bushviper]

I have seen this in "mentalis" house snake eggs from Upington area too. Very nice and made no difference they still all hatched.

[vuduman]

BV,do you know what causes it?I'm just reading up on someone who's Deinagkistrodon acutus(snorkel viper)also had eggs with "stars"on it.Some people said its "watermarks"?

[Bushviper]

No idea what causes it. I think it might even be excess calcium.

[MISA]

Vuduman,
I have seen this before in a wild caught Olive house snake (L.Inornatus) I captured many years ago (Hammarsdale area here in Natal), She laid 7 healthy looking eggs all had the same star like markings like you described as "braille" with a week of capture.

Of the seven hatchlings, I recall 4 of them were deformed by way of serious kinks in their spines, some were actually bent double into a "U" with the skin joined along the bend, sadly they never survived due to their deformities. 3 hatchlings hatched normally and were released back on the farm where the female was found.

I also suspected a calcium abnormality at the time ( but was unable to confirm due to Google still being a dream an not easily accessible)... This is/was the only time I have seen this phenomenon..

I look forward to hearing from others that have witnessed this "starring" what they think.

[vuduman]

I'm not entirely convinced that deformety of your L.Inornatus was caused by the "stars" on the eggs.I think its more the incubation prosess,but I don't think its impossible either.

I have seen this exact same thing before on eggs of a wildcaught Souther Brown eggeater a few years ago.But I didn't think mutch of it at that time Those eggs hatched perfectly aswell.
Perhaps "wildcaught" is a big clue here to where the stars come from?

I will keep you posted when they hatch.

Thanks Misa for your input.

[corn snake]

The same thing happened with the southern brown egg eater eggs on page 274 of Johan Marais' book: A complete guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa. Maybe it is a common thing in these snakes?
It would make sense if it is caused by excess calcium.

[vuduman]

The eggeaters hatched,but there was complications
I moved house about a week and a half before they hatched.
They cut through the eggs,and died moments later.Perfectly shaped ,but dead ?
3 of them came out fine,but they had slight crackleback,so I decided to freeze them
It was obviosely the change in incubating temperature that caused the unfortunate event.

Strangely a rhombic eggeater dropped a few eggs a few days ago...and they also have stars on them...Wonder wats in these eggs I feed them.lol

[Amphibian]

All the D.inornata that have dropped for me have always without exception had these little raised speckles all over them.
Its well documented that the eggs of this species are "pimpled". Just not sure whether the "pimples" are normally shaped as stars or not.
Apparently the eggs of Dipsadoboa aulica are the same although I cannot verify this first hand as I have never managed to breed them.

[vuduman]

That clears something up

However I recently also seen Deinagkistrodon acutus(snorkel viper)hatching also with definative big stars on the eggs.
The previous D.scabra that dropped ,the stars are bigger,and only a random few of them on the eggs.
Thanks for your input Amphibian

[mmwc]

This is extremely interesting, I have never heard or seen of this before.

[vuduman]

I will post some pictures of the D.scabra eggs as soon as I get a chance for you to see