Posted by:
pweaver
at Tue May 30 12:12:41 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by pweaver ]
If an infertile egg came out after the 2 'good eggs', you can pretty much be assured that the remaining eggs are infertile as well. You have a couple of options...
Leave her alone in the nestbox and let her continue to try to work them out herself. You can try increasing the temp in her cage to mid 80s or so, and/or letting her soak in shallow water for a couple hours a day.
You can try to *gently* express the eggs out, starting with the one closest to the vent. Sometimes they will come out fairly easily, sometimes not. I've killed a female trying to do this, but I've also done it successfully on a couple of others.
You can asperate the eggs using a needle. This works for some people, but I've never had much luck with it.
You can have a vet surgically remove them. This can be somewhat expensive unless you are good friends with a vet. The snake may or may not be able to breed again.
My personal rule of thumb is to go with option number one and just let nature take it's course. I'm sure there are some that will not agree with me here, but I've had better luck by NOT intervening than I have with trying to assist getting the eggs out. I had one snake re-absorb her last remaining egg and then successfully breed the following year. I also had a black milk with 3 or 4 eggs very far from the vent (like yours) that delivered her remaining slugs over the course of 2 months! Then again, I also had another milk that delivered one slug and then died eggbound. I guess what I am saying is that my snakes have done better overall when I just left them alone than when I intervened.
Can I ask if you disturbed your snake much during the course of her egglaying? From my experience, it seems that disturbing them can make some females stop in the middle of laying their eggs, especially when there are slugs involved.
Good luck!
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps
[ Hide Replies ]
- Xray of eggs - dawnrenee2000, Tue May 30 10:56:51 2006
 RE: Xray of eggs - pweaver, Tue May 30 12:12:41 2006
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