Python lays eggs without coming into contact with male companion for two decades

A snake has left experts scratching their heads after it laid seven eggs – despite not coming into contact with a male companion for more than two decades. 

A snake has left experts scratching their heads after it laid seven eggs – despite not coming into contact with a male companion for more than two decades. 

The St. Louis Zoo revealed that their 62-year-old ball python laid seven eggs despite not being near a male python for 20 years.

Something incredible happened, the zoo posted on social media earlier this week. A ball python laid eggs! That might not sound too thrilling to some, but to our Herpetarium staff it definitely was. This particular female snake is over 50 years old (the oldest snake documented in a Zoo) and has not been with a male in over 15 years!

The unnamed python laid the seven eggs on July 23.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, only five of those eggs survived. Three of them are in an incubator and the other two are being used for genetic sampling to figure out how this is possible.
The eggs should hatch in about a month’s time.

Mark Wanner, manager of herpetology at the St Louis Zoo, told the Associated Press that it is unusual but not rare for ball pythons to reproduce asexually.

The snakes can store sperm for delayed fertilisation. But in this case, it would mean the female python stored sperm for more than 15 years.

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

Social media users found it hilarious.

62, single, and living her best life, one person tweeted.

This snake is an inspiration to independent women everywhere, said another.

They should name her Mary. Obviously, someone quipped on Twitter.