Strange objects are being unearthed in Buncombe County. Reports to the Nature Center are not from University archaeologists at a dig site but from weekend gardeners and yards men. They report finding white, leathery, oblong objects ranging in size from 1/4 to 2 inches in length. Mulch piles and loamy garden soils in sunny areas seem to be the most frequent places of discovery. Found in clutches of twenty or more and sometimes as few as two, the weird and rubbery thing-a-ma-bobs are baffling gardeners across Western North Carolina.

What are they? Are they giant mushroom spores? Are they alien embryo pods? Are they some kind of toxic waste deposit? No need to dread, they are only a reptile egg.

The most frequent concern reptile egg discoveries is that they might be rattlesnake or copperhead eggs. FEAR NOT! All pit vipers are viviparous (live bearing), so you will not find venomous snake eggs in our area. The most commonly identified "backyard" reptile eggs are the black rat snakes, five-lined skinks, and eastern box turtles. All three species have their mating season in late May through mid-June and the eggs develop in about a month. Egg laying commences soon after development, which starts in July.

The black rat snake will deposit up to twenty-five one and half inch long leathery eggs. The mother snake chooses a nest site of mulch type substrate in a sunny area. Incubation takes about seventy to ninety days. The young snakes emerge totally self-sufficient, with the aid of an "egg tooth", in late August through September. If cold spells come early, the hatchlings will over winter in the nest and begin to explore their new world when looking for their first meal!

Five-lined skinks' nest are found under boards, tin sheets, or landscaping timbers. Unlike most reptiles, mother skink's will stay in the nest until after the eggs have hatched. The mother protects, turns, and moistens her eggs during incubation, which lasts about forty-five days. They can lay up to eighteen chicklet candy sized eggs.

The Box Turtle's egg development and incubation period is similar to the black rat snake. Their eggs are similar in size but differ slightly in appearance. Box turtle eggs are plumper and have a texture of a ping pong ball, whereas rat snake eggs are more slender and leathery. If you see a box turtle excavating a nest with her hind legs, don't be disappointed if no eggs were deposited. Turtles frequent make decoy nests to distract predatory nest robbers.

If you accidentally uncover a nest of reptiles eggs you can carefully reconstruct it. If replacement is not possible, you are welcome to bring then to the Nature Center (in damp paper towels) to be incubated. We will notify you when you become a proud reptilian parent. Last year we hatched fourteen fence lizards, twenty-seven black rat snakes and eleven ring neck snakes. All were released in appropriate habitats.