Not sure whether to ask for a herpetologist or an entomologist...

Gardening this weekend, I moved some 4x4 landscape timbers from where
they were resting and rotting around the borders of my flower garden.
As usual, I found several of my buddies, the Worm Snakes, under the
timbers, and gently moved them away to safety while I worked. But then
I found something else: two clutches of 6-10 eggs that I had never
seen or noticed before. They were nestled in a depression under the
timber where they could lay moist and undisturbed. One clutch was
right next to the curled-up earth snake... but are snake eggs round or
oval?

The eggs are smaller than a BB, perhaps the size of a small cilantro
seed. They are shiny, translucent, and whitish in color with a gray
dot barely visible inside, probably the developing critter or some
part thereof. The eggs are firm and not gelatinous or sticky. They're
not stuck together either. I was afraid of smashing them when I
replaced the timbers, so I made a little terrarium so I could see what
they'll hatch into. Just some pebbles and soil, dampened, and a piece
of wet black mulching cloth to keep them moist and out of direct
light.

Could they be salamandar or snake eggs, or did I just provide a
hatchery for something disgusting like slugs? I can't find any egg
photos on the internet.

Cheers


Sue
BTW I used to think that earth snakes and worm snakes were two names
for the same thing. But according to his page they're not. Most of the
snakes I find in my yard are worm snakes--they are beautiful with a
pink belly. But yesterday one of the snakes I found WAS an earth
snake--darker above, cream belly.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...enus_002. jpg

Maybe skinks??? Hope so, I adore bluetails. I saw my first anole last week
and was thrilled. Does this list allow pictures to be posted? Tell me how
and I will share him.

I remember years ago when I put my potted plants on the balcony of my new
house in Florida. Then a few mornings later, went out in my bare feet in my
nightie to enjoy the view before starting my day, and stepped on a
snake!!!!!

My evil mother in law (I hear there are other kinds, but I can't remember
that far back) bg had found the snake eggs and put them into my flowerpots
just before I moved, hoping they would turn out to be something terrible
that would infest my new house. (She was sick jealous that I was getting a
new house and had "stolen" her "baby". But then she took it even harder
when I gave him back to her, some folks are NEVER satisfied. Geez, and
people wonder why I didn't remarry.)

Actually they were red rat snakes, and absolutely stunning! The red rat
snake eggs were as long as a good-sized lima bean, half as wide, and oval,
shaped sort of like the pictures of dinosaur eggs you see sometimes. Soft
rather than hard shelled.

Since rat snakes and rattlers eat the same critters, as long as we had rat
snakes around, we never had rattlers.

Can't wait to hear what they turn out to be! Frogs? Frog eggs are round.
Salamanders would be WAY cool. Pictures, please????

laurie (it's been too long)

"Siouxzi" wrote in message
...
Not sure whether to ask for a herpetologist or an entomologist...

Gardening this weekend, I moved some 4x4 landscape timbers from where
they were resting and rotting around the borders of my flower garden.
As usual, I found several of my buddies, the Worm Snakes, under the
timbers, and gently moved them away to safety while I worked. But then
I found something else: two clutches of 6-10 eggs that I had never
seen or noticed before. They were nestled in a depression under the
timber where they could lay moist and undisturbed. One clutch was
right next to the curled-up earth snake... but are snake eggs round or
oval?

The eggs are smaller than a BB, perhaps the size of a small cilantro
seed. They are shiny, translucent, and whitish in color with a gray
dot barely visible inside, probably the developing critter or some
part thereof. The eggs are firm and not gelatinous or sticky. They're
not stuck together either. I was afraid of smashing them when I
replaced the timbers, so I made a little terrarium so I could see what
they'll hatch into. Just some pebbles and soil, dampened, and a piece
of wet black mulching cloth to keep them moist and out of direct
light.

Could they be salamandar or snake eggs, or did I just provide a
hatchery for something disgusting like slugs? I can't find any egg
photos on the internet.

Cheers


Sue
BTW I used to think that earth snakes and worm snakes were two names
for the same thing. But according to his page they're not. Most of the
snakes I find in my yard are worm snakes--they are beautiful with a
pink belly. But yesterday one of the snakes I found WAS an earth
snake--darker above, cream belly.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...enus_002. jpg

Hey there, Laurie.
I've got lots of bluetail skinks (well, technically five-lined skinks)
around here, but I don't think these are skink eggs. Too small, too
round, and translucent.

I think most reptile eggs are opaque, and skink eggs are not that
perfectly round or small:
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordL...ined_skink.htm

Frog and salamander eggs are much more jelly-like than these and
usually laid in water (with a few exceptions laid in wet places near
water).

I hope they do hatch, even if they are just bugs. I can't get a good
photo of them in their terrarium now, but I'll see if I can locate any
others under the timbers in my yard and photograph them next to a
pencil eraser or something so you can see the size.

I don't think you can attach photos to messages here, but you can
upload them on a web page and give us the URL.
Yahoo/Geocities and others offer free web pages--you can just keep
changing the content once you've used up the free space.

Your mother-in-law sounds like a hoot, actually--though I'm sure she
was not funny to you except perhaps in retrospect. Did she confess?
How many mothers-in-law would even pick up snake eggs, much less think
to put them in your flowerpots? I think that's pretty funny!

Cheers
Sue

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:15:08 -0400, "laurie \(Mother Mastiff\)"
wrote:

Maybe skinks??? Hope so, I adore bluetails. I saw my first anole last week
and was thrilled. Does this list allow pictures to be posted? Tell me how
and I will share him.

I remember years ago when I put my potted plants on the balcony of my new
house in Florida. Then a few mornings later, went out in my bare feet in my
nightie to enjoy the view before starting my day, and stepped on a
snake!!!!!

My evil mother in law (I hear there are other kinds, but I can't remember
that far back) bg had found the snake eggs and put them into my flowerpots
just before I moved, hoping they would turn out to be something terrible
that would infest my new house. (She was sick jealous that I was getting a
new house and had "stolen" her "baby". But then she took it even harder
when I gave him back to her, some folks are NEVER satisfied. Geez, and
people wonder why I didn't remarry.)

Actually they were red rat snakes, and absolutely stunning! The red rat
snake eggs were as long as a good-sized lima bean, half as wide, and oval,
shaped sort of like the pictures of dinosaur eggs you see sometimes. Soft
rather than hard shelled.

Since rat snakes and rattlers eat the same critters, as long as we had rat
snakes around, we never had rattlers.

Can't wait to hear what they turn out to be! Frogs? Frog eggs are round.
Salamanders would be WAY cool. Pictures, please????

laurie (it's been too long)

"Siouxzi" wrote in message
.. .
Not sure whether to ask for a herpetologist or an entomologist...

Gardening this weekend, I moved some 4x4 landscape timbers from where
they were resting and rotting around the borders of my flower garden.
As usual, I found several of my buddies, the Worm Snakes, under the
timbers, and gently moved them away to safety while I worked. But then
I found something else: two clutches of 6-10 eggs that I had never
seen or noticed before. They were nestled in a depression under the
timber where they could lay moist and undisturbed. One clutch was
right next to the curled-up earth snake... but are snake eggs round or
oval?

The eggs are smaller than a BB, perhaps the size of a small cilantro
seed. They are shiny, translucent, and whitish in color with a gray
dot barely visible inside, probably the developing critter or some
part thereof. The eggs are firm and not gelatinous or sticky. They're
not stuck together either. I was afraid of smashing them when I
replaced the timbers, so I made a little terrarium so I could see what
they'll hatch into. Just some pebbles and soil, dampened, and a piece
of wet black mulching cloth to keep them moist and out of direct
light.

Could they be salamandar or snake eggs, or did I just provide a
hatchery for something disgusting like slugs? I can't find any egg
photos on the internet.

Cheers


Sue
BTW I used to think that earth snakes and worm snakes were two names
for the same thing. But according to his page they're not. Most of the
snakes I find in my yard are worm snakes--they are beautiful with a
pink belly. But yesterday one of the snakes I found WAS an earth
snake--darker above, cream belly.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...enus_002. jpg

Well, DUH. Why didn't I guess this before? Found under a log, too
small to be reptile eggs, too small and firm to be amphibian eggs...
of course they are SLUG eggs. I found a tiny snail in my terrarium and
that got me googling... but I think they're still slug and not snail
eggs.

Scroll down here for a photo--small, but that's what they look like
except the ones I found are perhaps a tad larger:
http://www.greengardener.co.uk/slug.htm

Here's another photo. The ones I found were translucent like these,
but a bit whiter:
http://ipm.osu.edu/image/slugegg.htm

This species is obviously quite different:
http://www.nawwal.org/~mrgoff/photoj...8-03eggs1.html

Not very exciting, eh? I tossed out my terrarium before the rest could
hatch. ;^)

Cheers
Sue


"Siouxzi" wrote in message
.. .
Not sure whether to ask for a herpetologist or an entomologist...

Gardening this weekend, I moved some 4x4 landscape timbers from where
they were resting and rotting around the borders of my flower garden.
As usual, I found several of my buddies, the Worm Snakes, under the
timbers, and gently moved them away to safety while I worked. But then
I found something else: two clutches of 6-10 eggs that I had never
seen or noticed before. They were nestled in a depression under the
timber where they could lay moist and undisturbed. One clutch was
right next to the curled-up earth snake... but are snake eggs round or
oval?

The eggs are smaller than a BB, perhaps the size of a small cilantro
seed. They are shiny, translucent, and whitish in color with a gray
dot barely visible inside, probably the developing critter or some
part thereof. The eggs are firm and not gelatinous or sticky. They're
not stuck together either. I was afraid of smashing them when I
replaced the timbers, so I made a little terrarium so I could see what
they'll hatch into. Just some pebbles and soil, dampened, and a piece
of wet black mulching cloth to keep them moist and out of direct
light.

Could they be salamandar or snake eggs, or did I just provide a
hatchery for something disgusting like slugs? I can't find any egg
photos on the internet.

Cheers


Sue
BTW I used to think that earth snakes and worm snakes were two names
for the same thing. But according to his page they're not. Most of the
snakes I find in my yard are worm snakes--they are beautiful with a
pink belly. But yesterday one of the snakes I found WAS an earth
snake--darker above, cream belly.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/co...enus_002. jpg