Help, Worried

Question
I've had my albino female corn snake for many years now,
I'd say she's an adult and has always been healthy.
2 weeks ago she shed and drank water just fine,
I knew that soon she would be hungrey
and tired feeding her the next day,
But I had no luck and did not think much of it.

But it has been almost 2 or more weeks now,
and she is not eating.
She slithers all over the tank acting like she's hungrey,
she has been opening her mouth at wide as she can many times today as if
she has something in her mouth or throught.

(My other snake (that died awhile ago) had mucusy stuff in his throught and
had to force feed and given shots to live, but then was just fine.. this might
be the same thing)

But just then today my snake laid egg..
(Do snakes lay lays when theres no male?.. there unfertile right?)
I'm guessing it's unfertile because I have no male anymore,
but she's never laid a white egg before, they were always small and orange..
pretty wierd.. maybe cuz she was too young.

Anyways.. (All happening today) to add to that.. she keeps getting sand if her
mouth, then she drank alot of water and threw it up.
She hasen't dranken water yet today and I'm worried she is unable to drink
and eat. I heard that sand is bad to have.
Also the most thing I'm worried about also is that she breathed sometimes
where her throught puffed up like it was hard for her to breath, Could sand
be affecting her breathing?
I'm so worried and confused,
Today has been a wierd day...

Please help!!!
- Kim


Answer
Lots of information there. The inappetance on its own would be nothing to worry about but all the problems combined may be.

Infertile eggs are called slugs, they are only laid with fertile eggs after your snake has bred. your snake may have bred with the male just before you removed him, depending on how long ago he was removed. otherwise i can only suggest it may be an egg shaped lump of urea..?

Sand is definitely not a good substrate for snakes so i would change that as soon as possible. Your snake throwing up and having laboured breathing may indicate a respiratory infection caused by inhaling the sand. for this reason i would take your snake to a vet sooner rather than later to check her over. if she is fine, she may have just been hissing...

The mucus in your previous snake's mouth was an infection, either respiratory or it may have been a cold. Check the temperatures of your vivariums. the temp should be between 82-84F. Correct temperatures should eliminate the possibility of a cold.

Hopefully a vet checkup will show that your snake is fine or will pick up on any illnesses and treat them. make sure that you do change the sand substrate for either, newspaper, aspen bedding or orchid bark chips (coarse not fine). this will limit the risk of a respiratory infection. also check your temperatures and humidity. humidity should be around 50% and temp 82-84F.

I hope this answers your question,

Andy