Although we might hear about this issue a LOT on the forums, I'd venture to guess that the proportion of snakes that are actually gravid and become eggbound is not necessarily reflected by this. It would be interesting to see some raw numbers from some breeders, for instance:



Avg Cage Size

Frequency of Egg Binding (# females egg bound compared to number of gravid females altogether, whether in one year, or in a lifetime of breeding).



Also I would be curious as to how many of those becoming egg bound are due to being bred at 18 months, bred at small sizes, etc etc.



So far my own experience is:



1 female California King bred and laid her eggs in a 20 galllon aquarium. I put her in the typical sweater box afterwards, though she's showing indications of double clutching. She's blue, so I should know in a couple of weeks. She had 8 perfect eggs, no slugs, and was hatched in July '01, probably 38 to 42" long. The male she was bred to was also a July '01, same size, kept in the same 20 gallon enclosure. Eggs are due to hatch in a couple of weeks!



1 female Blotched King, bred and laid her eggs in a 15 gallon aquarium. She also is in a typical sweater box now. She, too, was an '01 animal, though not sure of the month. She was bred to a much older male snake, '99 or '98 who had never been bred, and I do not even know if he was cooled. She had 8 eggs and 1 slug, and her eggs will hatch at the end of July.



Both snakes were, and are, handled fairly regularly, and are treated more like pets than like "simply breeders".



Anyway, I would be interested in this discussion.
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~Sasheena

Ground Snakes

Kit, Kaboodle, Tantilla, Tantillas, Lightning, Kinkee, Maple

JCP

Dreamer

Rosy

Castle

Kings

Licorice, Bishop, Queenie, Jester, Tigris, Euphrates

Pandora, Phantom

Lady

Corns

Aphrodite, Athena, Hermes

Tiger

Amulet

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