breeding snakes

Question
i have 2 standard corn snakes, a yellow rat snake and a calafornian corn snake, 3 are female and i is hopefully a boy. My corn snakes keeps laying eggs but they die after a couple of days, my question is do they lay eggs anyway without mating or could the male be infertile


Answer
Hi Lorraine, There are a few possibilities for the lack of fertility with your eggs. I have had single females that still produce eggs so that is one possibility. Corn snakes will hybridize with yellow rats but breeding between two different species doesn't happen as naturally or with the same degree of certainty as it does with same species, so if if the yellow rat is the only male then that would  be another cause. I'm afraid you've stumped me on exactly what a Californian corn snake is. The species is not native to that state nor I believe has it been introduced there as a non-native species. Is that a new colour mutation that I have not kept up with! Are you quite sure it is also a corn snake? The fertility of your snakes will be diminished somewhat if they were not put through a cooling period over the winter but it does not reduce it to zero.
Snake eggs are prone to dehydration so if you are not finding them quickly and getting them into a damp medium that could be causing them to collapse.
I've included a couple links that will help you visually sex your snakes. The females tail's will begin to taper right after the vent while the males stays the same thickness for about 10 scales.

http://www.petclubuk.com/view/page.do?id=255

http://www.cornutopia.com/Corn%20Utopia%20on%20the%20Web/Photo%20&%20Image%20Sto...