Posted by:
chrish
at Wed Jun 11 11:12:59 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by chrish ]
I have always been rather skeptical of the implication that cage size affects egg binding. If that were the case, you would see it across the board in snakes kept in undersized cages. Instead, it seems to be common in a few species and rarely happens in others.
- For example, why do eastern kings seem to suffer from this problem whereas you don't see it reported often in Florida Kings? Clearly there are more obese FL kings in undersized cages than easterns, yet it doesn't seem to be a problem. Indigos seem to have trouble with this more often that other species as well.
For anyone who has "been breeding snakes for years, and have never had a problem with this...", try breeding a few pairs of Eastern Kings or Indigos for several years. Then come back and I will listen.
As for cage size, I have a female eastern king that spent last year living in a 48" vision cage by herself (she is around 4.5 feet). That is a lot of room for a snake her size (at least by captive standards. She became egg bound last year and I aspirated the first couple of eggs so she could lay the rest. None hatched (but I didn't get my male very cool so that may have contributed).
This year, she has been moved (due to room issues) to a smaller 24x24 inch vision cage (less than half the size). The result, egg binding again. I aspirated one egg (21 days after the pre-lay shed) and she layed 10 eggs, off which 8 still look good. So cage size alone doesn't seem to have made a difference.
I had also heard that some people swear by calcium supplementation to reduce egg binding. This year I supplemented her rats with a little calcium. Result - egg bound again.
Some people comment about it being muscle tone. My easterns are very active and constrict their F/T rats (and I sometimes jiggle them a little after they grab them to make them constrict harder). Admittedly, I don't handle them often, but they are always out and about begging for food.
I have also seen egg binding once in a Western Hog that layed a perfectly good clutch the previous year and who wasn't appreciably heavier the next.
I am just concerned we are jumping to conclusions about the underlying cause of egg binding in captive snakes. I think this issue (and the prevalence of full term stillbirths in live-bearing snakes) may be more complicated than we are assuming.
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Chris Harrison
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A couple of observations on the issue.... - chrish, Wed Jun 11 11:12:59 2003