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Q: Eggs still in my corn snake??
Posted By:

glendtcocaine

In Relation To:

CORDELIA [NCSF1]
Hey corn snake people,  I have a normal cornsnake that bred with a snow corn male.  She did not even look gravid so I never payed as much attention to my annery who totally looks gravid.  The normal shed, and low and behold, about ten days later she was acting very weird, hiding under her water dish and all of a sudden, an egg was trying to come out her vent.,   

 I quickly made a nesting box and put her in it, and she layed two slugs.  I can see that there are more eggs/slugs in her body, but there is no sign of trying to get them out.  She laid the slugs three days ago.   Should I be worried, or just let her be and let her do it on her own???

Please help me, Im worried about her.  I dont know if this is egg binding, or if this is normal?
Points: 150
Topics: Egg Laying
Tags: Eggbound, Laying
Species: Other Colubrids > Other Colubrids > Elaphe guttata guttata
Administrative: Show/Hide
Accepted Answer 5/22/2009 12:17:42 AM

FyreFocks
I had this exact issue a few weeks ago. This is how it went down; The female was way too small to have been bred, but my boy has super sperm like my boy Howard Stern, so he got her on the first try. I hoped she wouldnt take, but she did. After 5 weeks, she had her pre lay shed. A couple days after the pre lay shed, she laid 2 slugs. She laid them way too early and i figured she was getting them out early. I knew she had more in her. After a couple days, she had an oblong lump an inch above her vent. The next egg in line had turned sideways. I had to massage her and let her crawl around to correct it. That night she laid 3 more eggs, all questionable and have since all died. She had 2 left in her. After a day or two, i soaked her and the next day i massaged them manually out of her.

At this point, if i were you, i would bathe her for half an hour and then give her a massage to get them out. I had to put some real effort into it, almost forcing them out. Im sure it was uncomfortable for her and i know it was for me. If you dont feel comfortable doing it manually, you need to seek a vets help.
 
Member Comment 5/22/2009 2:43:04 PM

JohnJohn
Sometimes they lay a few slugs ahead of the others.  But three days seems long enough.

I'm not sure about snakes, but I know that some lizards will reabsorb infertile eggs.  I've had whole clutches of lizard eggs reabsorbed and never layed with no problem to the lizard.  I have no idea if this can happen with a corn snake though.

Nate, how is your snake now?  Did she recover just fine?
 
Member Comment 5/22/2009 3:15:17 PM

FyreFocks
My snake is doing great now. Ive got some rats pups in her so shes getting the weight back.
 
Assisted Answer 5/22/2009 10:14:17 PM

MegF
It can take several days to a week or more for females to lay an entire clutch, but in general they lay within hours.  Yes, she is egg bound in my opinion.  They can go a while with the eggs, but if you wait too long, they will adhere and you'll have to do surgery to remove them.  I've aspirated eggs that were egg bound in my females.  any that are close to the vent can be aspirated.  Go thru the wall of the snake between the ventral and side scales with a small gauge needle.  You can't use too fine, or you won't be able to get the material out.  Usually they don't even move when you penetrate the side. Aspirate as much of the contents as you can. Usually they will pass the egg and the subsequent eggs within a day or so.  Feeding can help if they'll eat. If the next egg won't pass, do the same thing.  Kathy Love told me she's never had viable eggs become egg bound and so far she is correct. 
 
Member Comment 5/24/2009 9:45:30 AM

FyreFocks
Any news on your girl?
 
Author Comment 5/25/2009 11:35:08 PM

glendtcocaine
Yes, sorry for waiting so long and getting back to everyone, but I did what Nate said, I bathed her and massaged it out of her.  Fortunately there was only one left in her but it was a scary process for me as I did not know how hard to squeeze and push you know, but after a couple of tries I got the egg moving and it came out.  It was totally no good either, it was oblong and yellow.  But Im glad she is ok.  

I dont think it was because she was too small, because she was almost 400 grams and about 42 inches long, I thnk my male was too small he was only around 150 grams and only like a year or a little better old.  Hopefully the other corn I have that is gravid will have good eggs.  She is due to lay tomorrow!!    Wish me luck, and thanks for your advice!!
 
Member Comment 5/26/2009 4:59:40 AM

MegF
I'm glad she's okay.  I've found that exercising the females during their pregnancy is helpful as well. It keeps the muscles toned and I never had an egg bound female until I stopped doing this.  Just a couple of times a weeks for 10 minutes or so is enough.  I let them crawl around the floor and thru my hands right up until they quit eating.  Usually a week or two before their prelay shed.  Kathy Love first suggested the correlation between lack of excercise, obesity and egg binding.
 
Member Comment 1/17/2011 1:23:44 AM

abi21491

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