Hello everyone , my name is Alex , from Ukraine .
I was reading this forum for quite some time and now I wanted to write and share the journey of my first time mother to be Lakshmi. She is Palmetto 3,9 years old 109 cm long 340 grams . Was paired on 26th March ,28 and 31th , all locks were successful with all evidence . Her groom is proven breeder 7,5 years old Normal het Palmetto sweet boy , that was landed to me from a friend who successfully paired him . She had per prelay shed 14 April , yesterday I’ve seen her folding and heard thumping in her nursery with moss , temperature differs from 26.8C to 28.4 depending if she lays directly on a probe , I haven’t seen her whole day yesterday and was sure she laid her eggs . Today I peeked through a cloth that covered the front of her container so she will have her piece and I saw her near the water bowl , in my sincere belief that she has laid already I opened the container and the nursery and found nothing , sprinkled the moss again coz it got a bit dry , she went straight in . Now I sit and worry . It’s my first time as well .
Hi Alex! Sounds like it should be very soon. Usually they lay 7-10 days after pre-lay shed, sometimes a few days longer. Fingers crossed for an uneventful laying. 
I worry about everything, I physically touched her today as I was sure she laid yesterday , she was trying to crawl out of container as I misted the moss . Now I hear some sounds coming out of her nursery . I understand that I’m overreacting and as it’s my first time , I literally don’t know how it’s going . I read a lot of information but it’s not the same as when it happens in my own house . She is active , her bottom third part is rock solid , without kinks or bumps . She was folding couple days ago . There’s a significant thickening near her tail which makes me think the first egg is crowning now .
They get restless near the end, going in and out of the laybox until finally they settle down at the bottom. If conditions are good in the laybox, that is. Temps 79-82. Moist but not damp moss.
Welcome Alex from Ukraine! You are most definitely in the right place for corn snake breeding advice, or any other reptile advice!
Just try to take a deep breath and calm yourself down and let nature take over! Momma will be fine! In the meantime you are getting rock solid advice from @deanaii! Dean knows what he’s talking about! Others may chime in as well!
It’s great to have you here Alex! We look forward to seeing some healthy beautiful babies! And don’t apologize if you make a mistake. The people here are very supportive and helpful as well as very forgiving! 
Welcome, Alex! You’re doing everything right. I know how easy it is to fret, especially with your first clutch. Temps seem fine. Your pretty female will likely do a lot of moving around until the last day or so before laying. She may move in and out of her nest box, rearrange the moss, possibly even choose not to stay in it for a while. This is always stressful to me when they do it, but I haven’t had one yet who chose to lay elsewhere if she had a nest box. The moist moss is a great natural environment and they know this. Usually sometime within 24 hours of laying, the female pushes most of the moss to one side of the nest box. It’s often the side where the opening is located. Then she lies on the cleared-off area of nest box floor where she will lay. This has been the case for probably 90% of mine.
It’s fine if you touch her. That said, try to limit this to twice daily.
I’m not sure what you mean by folding, but the rest of this sounds totally normal. The eggs are near the vent, as they should be. There’s not exactly a point where they crown like humans so. The eggs do of course become visible at some time near when they are about to be laid, but this is only minutes before laying. As @deanaii said, it’s usually 7-10 days after the pre-lay shed. Some females go a bit longer or sooner but most are within that window.
Do make sure that she’s got fresh water daily and that her water dish isn’t large enough for her to fit into. You don’t want her to lay eggs in the water. When mine are near laying, I remove everything but the nest box and a small water dish. If they seem nervous I’ll leave their fake plants. The goal is to make the nest box the only attractive spot.
Soon you’ll have eggs, and hopefully healthy babies not long afterward! Welcome again.
Thank you Dean , Caron and Caryl for response . I try not to touch or peek under the cloth I covered the front part of container even though I want to . If something goes wrong the nearest herpetologist is in another town 5 hours away . By folding I meant she literally folded , she was laying in a very steep angle , folded in two , presumably moving her eggs toward exit . I didn’t see the egg coming out , just it looked like the first egg is very close to coming out if she choose to lay finally . She made a crater in the moss yesterday but moss got dry because I didn’t open her container for 3 days , it’s moist , not damp , I had to sprinkle it with water while I checked for eggs . She have a small bottle for her water now so she won’t lay in it . She pushes it around today . She thumped couple times more , will check on her tomorrow in case she’s in the middle of laying eggs now . I don’t want to scare her usually I know she’s not in the nursery when temp there drops 1 degree for no reason . Today is exactly 7 th day after prelay shed .
Day 7 post shed means you’re getting close! Fingers crossed, prayers said that things will go smoothly. They usually do. 
Thank you so much I pray day and night to my gods and goddesses for her safe delivery and that her first motherhood will be a positive experience! Can’t wait to finally see her eggs ! 
Just catching up here. Congratulations on being so close to having eggs! You have a fun pair there—palmettos are near and dear to my heart. Can’t wait to see her get them all out, and hoping you have a healthy clutch! 
You’ve got this!
Thank you so much 
I so appreciate all the support!!
Today is day 10 post shed , I saw her laying on top of the nursery that is in her large container , tail down , guess she’s using gravity to get the eggs out . Of course I didn’t stop worrying . Decided to not spy on her till tomorrow . I don’t open container or the towel it’s covered with , just use the phone without flash to take pictures in night mode from the sides of her container . Since it’s her first experience I think that takes her all the strength to get first two eggs out . Since couple days ago she was actively rearranging her enclosure I think she’s fine . Can’t wait for her eggs to finally arrive ! I love this girl dearly and worry about her since I also have no prior experience breeding snakes .
Yes palmettos are amazing , I sometimes took her with me to rehabilitation center where I was getting therapy , everyone loved her . Pairing was unexpected since I didn’t have a pair for her , a friend breeder offered this boy in exchange for couple of babies , she had a pair for him but female had difficult birth so she decided to not breed her anymore and the male became without pair . Was interesting to observe the behavior of the rack snake , in terms he lived in a rack , and when his shelf was opened he knew he will either get fed or get a female . Here is no racks , my snakes are in plastic containers , I take them out often to handle and even take for a walk in summer . He was discovering whole new world here ! Very sweet shy boy . So I’m hoping for the eggs over weekend ! I wanted to ask - is very mild chamomile water is good for post lay bath ? Not pocketed chamomile but proper dry from the drug store ? To make a very mild water with minimum of chamomile and bath her in it ? I guess poor girl will be sore . As my friend said she have a lot of eggs . I have read that some people bath snake after laying with some soap . I don’t have a non scented soap I would trust to use on a snake and definitely won’t wash her with dishwasher as one post suggested on the internet so came up with chamomile water idea .
I’ve never bathed a mom corn after laying. I have heard of people doing it if a mess was made in the lay box, but that’s rare.
After I’ve made sure they’re empty and I’ve set up the eggs, the first thing I do is try to give the mom a small meal.
I have read they bath new moms to remove the smell of eggs, that bathing it will help snake to get out of defensive mood and just clean her up . I plan to bath mine in chamomile water if it’s ok for snakes , give her fresh water and a 7-9 gram small mice that I’ve got specially for her and 3 young snakes I have . But first she needs to lay those eggs finally she seem to be in her nursery so I hope for eggs in the next 24 hours , I didn’t see or hear her roaming in enclosure or moving things . Hope it’s good sign ! How do you make sure they’re empty ?
I’ve never had my females be overly defensive during or after laying either. I don’t know about chamomile. I think I’d stick with a tiny bit of mild dish soap.
I usually leave them alone for 24 hours after I notice they’re laying. Then when I think they’re done, I palpate the female from midbody to vent to determine if any more eggs are in there.
Oh, before feeding, I usually stick their face in a water bowl for a long drink.
Yeah I’ve heard about the mandatory long drink and snakes being so exhausted that they are unable to do it themselves . I don’t know what’s going on there but she isn’t roaming today and sit in the nursery . So I hope she’s currently laying those eggs finally to try a dishwasher ,for me as a ADHD affected person I need to know all the risks , possible allergic reactions , their cure protocol , list of ingredients allowed and not allowed for snake washing . That’s a lot of info to look for . I doubt anyone was doing research on what to wash the snake with . I use L.O.C for my dishes , while it’s positioned as non toxic and harmless , I don’t want to risk her safety and get another ambulance visit 
it’s hard for the paramedics to understand why my blood pressure almost doubled because my snake was laying directly on the probe and it showed false but scary temp reading when she finishes I definitely will lightly palpate her from middle down to make sure all went out as it should . Couple days ago when I misted the drying moss she tried to crawl out or container and I tried to candle her with flashlight while she moves , I saw poo higher near the vent and under it there was something that I can’t see , the egg that can’t be candled inside the snake .
The safest option is to not bathe at all. The second safest option is to just rinse in water with no soap and then a paper towel wipe down.
Thank you , my first option was to bath her in pre boiled and cooled to 27C bottled water for babies . So I’d better stick to it .
Congratulations, and good luck with them!
Thank you so much Dean ! I still can’t believe my lovely girl became a mother !! She is sweetest snake , when I cleaned container after she had her water she went right up on my neck . And sat there while I replaced the towels etc . She’s very skinny and wrinkly now but already ate her little mice , she will be fine