I agree with Vic and will add a few observations of my own. I have known people who kept their indigos very "wet" with perpetually high humidity and limited ventilation. I observed one female in particular that they had that had a recurring problem with sores between her ventral scales and on her sides that eventually up and died one day. I'm sure that the too damp air contributed to the untimely demise of the snake. Also, during the breeding/egg laying season, temperatures are somewhat cooler, especially at night, and high humidity too cool temperatures = respiratory infection. What I do for my snakes is I provide a box full of moistened peat moss that they can hide and lay their eggs in, but they will often leave this box to bask, especially in the mornings.

While I have observed thinner females that have become egg bound (my female that became egg bound this year was a relatively lean snake), I agree with Vic's sentiments that captive snakes' sendentary life styles and high calorie diet probably contribute more than anything else to egg binding. I've also kind of wondered if calcium deficiency might play a role as well. Females put a lot of calcium into egg shells, thus depleting it in their system. To stimulate labor, vets administer calcium oxytocin...while I haven't done a whole lot of calcium supplementation in the past, I'm going to try it this year with my breeding females.



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