There is no one single thing that causes dystocia. The most common things implicated in egg binding include dehydration, inappropriate laying site, lack of exercise, poor nutritional status (obesity, low calcium/D3 status. etc). You can argue as much as you want about your personal favorite cause, but almost every case will have a combination of those causes.



I have to ask, for those of you with so much experience with this... why? Unless you work in a vet clinic or are performing this service for everyone in town, you should not be having so many dystocias as they are almost always preventable.



How to NEVER see a dystocia in your collection 101:

1) Have well hydrated animals. Provide a humidity gradient and a water bowl. Don't pull the water bowl! She won't lay in it, but if you are paranoid just give her a smaller bowl.

2) Give her a DARK, DEEP, QUIET, HUMID place to lay her eggs. Feel free to get creative but don't omit any of those 4 things.

3) Keep records of shedding and palpate all of your females in spring time on a regular basis. This way you are not surprised by a clutch.

4) Feed your snakes high quality rodents (and preferably other prey like chicks too) that have not been frozen for months, not years.



OK so lets say your "friend" has a dystocia and you want to help deal with it. The first step should be to wait and leave her alone, in her nest box. (Never too late to fix any of the scenarios above) All eggs should be passed within 24 hours, I would not do anything at all until 24 hours go by without any egg movement. The next step would be to try a series of calcium injections which you can hopefully get a vet to prescribe and give to your snake at home, without bringing her anywhere yet. It is cheap, and has a good chance of working. You can try oxytosin too. It is also cheap and won't do any harm, but it has never proven to be very effective in snakes. You should also soak her for a few minutes to let her rehydrate...

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