Posted by:
Rextiles
at Fri Mar 23 15:11:51 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Rextiles ]
Egg binding is generally not actually associated with the actual size of the snake. Egg binding can affect any snake at any size. It has more to do with dehydration, lack of exercise, and vitamin and mineral deficiency.
Your statement is partially true. Yes, dehydration, lack of exercise and dietary deficiencies do come into play, especially when you see a full sized female having problems passing eggs. However, your assumption that the size of the snake does not play a factor remains questionable at best. While it has been stated that females of small proportions can successfully lay eggs, the fact remains that it is also excessively taxing on them and dangerous due to a higher factor of egg sizes being too large which also causes eggbinding.
The same holds true to humans. Young girls will start menstruating between ages 10-13 which dictates a functional reproductive system, however, it's a highly dangerous endeavor and the mortality rate is significantly higher than for an adult female of proper size and age.
in the wild, reptiles reach sexual maturity at a small size. In the wild, a 2 to 3 year old female hognose may only be 100 to 150 grams.
Can you substantiate your "facts" with actual data about the average sizes of known 2-3 year old wild hognoses? If not, it's merely conjecture on your part Gregg.
Last year I picked up a 125 gram female. She was 125 grams and gravid. Eggs were infertile but she passed them just fine. However, she almost did not recover from the ordeal.
It has been my experience that infertile eggs are sometimes (but not always) smaller than fertile eggs which could be due to any number of reasons.
The egging process is very taxing on reptiles. It takes a lot of vitamin, mineral, calcium, and fat stores.
This is true and it should be part of general husbandry practices. However, good husbandry practices also dictate that captive specimens should be of a more appropriate size than their wild cousins.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles
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RE: Breeding underweight females? - Rextiles, Fri Mar 23 15:11:51 2012