• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Girl is eggbound - Please describe the probe method!

Of course, manipulating is a good idea, but I would not want the poster to force it because he thinks it has to go out no matter what because the female is going to die for sure. Past two weeks from laying is not really worrisome in my opinion. If I am right it is quite close to the vent, right? That means it has moved from the original position, cause else there would be eggs stuck behind it. It is probably not blocked by tissue. If it is not huge, bowel movement, prey mass and a bit exercise and regularly moving it to keep it loose from the membranes still is a very good scenario to let it get out on its own. Just keep an eye on the females condition. And, if she starts smelling bad or stuff comes from her cloaca, she needs to be helped a. s. a. p. Of course there is a chance that the egg starts rotting very fast and things go wrong horribly, but rupture of tissue will surely kill the female.
 
I may be only a small-time hobby breeder, but my personal experience is of retained eggs being laid at least 6 weeks after the main clutch with no ill effects on the female at all, and I've read of others with the same experience. Conversely I've read of plenty of surgical interventions, oxytocin injections, manipulations and aspirations that have lead on to the female dying.
If the female is healthy, eating, defecating and the egg is moving down her body, I'd still leave her to pass it herself, personally.
 
And I'm sure you both remember how hard it is to learn to sit and do nothing! You just want to "fix" the snake.
 
I know Nanci, I myself have problems wit that but this year convinced me with the female that passed the egg after 6 weeks, it was not even halfway when it first stopped moving.
 
Nanci said:
And I'm sure you both remember how hard it is to learn to sit and do nothing! You just want to "fix" the snake.
Click to expand...
Totally, Nanci. Remember when I interrupted Pearl laying. It took stern but reassuring words from Vinny to make me leave her alone and let her pass the remaining eggs in her own good time!
I think the horror story about someone trying to manipulate retained eggs out and causing a prolapse a few years ago just stays with me and reinforces my 'hands off' policy in my own snakes
 
I never take the female or eggs out before I really think she is done. Except maybe eggs that are easy to grab when spying on the girl to see how far she is. I'll do that maybe twice a day max by the way after 24 hour passed from when I saw the first eggs.
 
It's apparently very simple for people who have done lots (manipulating them out) but I myself had good luck with waiting. I can't say what I'd do the next time; each situation is different. I really don't think I'd worry about an egg rotting away- retained slugs don't, and they can be in there a good long time- months even. Chip- it's not the egg she aspirated, it's the normal-sized egg behind it.
 
Over the years I have lost a few I really cared about by waiting, so I guess our experiences mold our approaches. I have a photo on my home PC of an egg I manipulated out earlier this year, I'll add it to this thread (if I can find it tonight). What the photo can't show is how it smelled, though! That female got bone thin and had to be assist fed for months after that. She's still a "pet" and will never be bred again from the toll it took. What is amazing is how easy it will often come out. Hardly any pressure or force is needed as often as not, and it makes me wonder how it stayed in there to begin with. If it's a really easy push out, better to have it outside than inside is my thinking. Again, it's not my animal, and I'm just sharing what I would do if it were. :)
 
That's appreciated Chip. It is a difficult topic, whatever one chooses it can go either way, good or wrong. If I'd feel an egg is easy to push down I'd be happy to be able to do so. I do try to keep it loose whilst waiting by pushing it a bit.
 
Hey guys, I have an update. We took Sketch to the vet today because the egg was still trapped in her cloacal tube after all this time (since mid-June) to see about surgery. The egg was causing some digestive blockage. Daily massages, soaks; nothing would work. The vet gassed her to relax her muscles and used a combination of opening up the cloaca, lube, and pressure, and the thing came right out! No blood, no trauma, and best of all, no surgery! She's still a little swollen, but recovered very quickly from the gas. She hasn't been refusing meals, but she also never put weight back on after her clutch of duds in June. We're hoping she will put some weight on in the next couple months and get her muscle tone back to normal! We couldn't be happier with how it went and are so glad to have it done!
The egg was soft, which I found interesting. I expected it to be as hard as a rock. Does anyone have similar or different experience with this? I can post a pic if anyone's interested.
 
Congrats!

This is a slug that was passed months after the rest of the clutch...
DSC_0054.jpg
 
All I can say is that I hope I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever have to do this with my Vova. :( I wonder what ultimately causes the eggs to not pass.
 
Unfortunately, Ifrom what I have seen people talk about on this thread, If you are going to breed you WILL run accross this again at some point.
 
Last edited:
Wasn't smelly til the boys cut it open...
And it wasn't blocked, sideways, fused to anything, or oversized. It was right by the vent from the first day. I have no clue why she didn't lay it on her own. She always had good muscle mass, she was about 5 years old, 3.5', and over 300g (though not by a ton). Murphy?
 
Maybe it was too small/elongated and soft for her to be able and/or to feel the need to push it out. Apparently it did not get out from bowel movements either....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top