Q:
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How doable is spaying snakes in general?
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This question is rather broad because I have heard of spaying larger species of snakes for varying health reasons but I'm also asking about medium small species too. The snake in question for this is a 22 year old female corn snake. The reasoning I'm asking is because up until I got her in 2014-15ish (was still in college at the time so we were both just there) she had been housed with a male since they were babies themselves by her previous owner. As a result for over half her life she had been breeding and laying eggs double clutching every year since maturity. She so used to laying eggs that long after I've separated her from boys in retirement she still lays infertile clutches every year. It's been a problem the last two years because she's not keeping her weight after laying as well as she used to, and I had to help her massage eggs out of her the last time. She just didn't have the energy to get them out herself. Luckily they weren't stuck and it was easy to massage them. I believe she could live quite long if she wasn't wasting valuable energy on eggs every year because she's very healthy otherwise. I just don't know if she has energy for a surgery in her. Plus like I said I've only heard of spaying larger breeds like retics and burms. So just wondering about the plausibility of it.
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Member Comment
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7/27/2025 9:13:28 PM
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Sonja K. Reptiles
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I don't know a lot about it, but I had a similar experience with a Telescopus annulatus (African Tiger Snake). The species is quite a bit smaller than a Corn. She started continually cycling with no male. She eventually prolapsed an oviduct. At first the vet tried to stitch to prevent her from doing so again, but that didn't work, so then he spayed her. Unfortunately, she passed a couple days later.
I had a Baron's Racer that would lay slugs annually without the presence of a male. She eventually had an infertile egg unshell itself inside her and ended up going septic and dying. I didn't know what had happened at first. She developed an eye infection, which is why I brought her in. I was given antibiotics for her, but she only lived another day, and passed the unshelled egg; which explained it all. I only share that because sooner or later, as I'm sure you are concerned about, something is bound to happen during the laying process. I think it'd be worth consulting with a vet and asking about the cost and going from there.
The only other thing I can think of is trying to get her to stop cycling by changing the temps up a little or something to make the conditions less favorable for breeding (even though I know you're not pairing her). I hope you get where I'm going there. Do you currently brumate her?
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Author Comment
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7/28/2025 3:08:02 PM
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TribalCorns
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When I retired her I stopped brumating her since I wanted her to eat through winter and bring weight up. It's been like that for a number of years now. I do keep her a little lower in temperature than most trying to keep her from getting excited. There is the normal hot spot but the house temperature she's in is 68 degrees f normally. Everyone else is between 70-72 with hot spots as well. This spring and summer so far actually is the first year she hasn't laid anything. So I hope that continues. I was just curious who may have had spaying done or not and their experiences. I'm really glad you answered though I'm sorry your girls didn't make it. That kind of scare is the reason I want to look up options.
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