Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this sounds a little drastic, but it is quite simple, and very effective. get a syringe and an 18 gauge needle. any vet supply sells them. with the needle, go right up between the belly scales into the center of the stuck egg and suck the contents out. be sure to have someone you trust hold the snake firmly, so it can't thrash around while you perform this procedure. in my experience, the snake has shown little or no discomfort, we don't even bother to restrain the head. put your finger on the needle to stop the needle from entering any further than the center of the egg. the snake will expel the empty eggshell in a couple of days. i put a little neosphorin on the needle spot, but this shouldn't leave any visible mark on the snake. good luck, kurt d.

What is to stop the needle from hitting a vital organ? That just seems a little too risky to me.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Onyx"

yes your right it's a bit risky,i went through this nightmare a couple of years ago.i live in a small town with no herp vet so i followed the advice of a herper/vet with many emails and phone calls.it was explained to me to try the least invasive method that produces the desired results,with asperating the egg as a last resort.
warm water soaks,manual manipulation and other vet recemmoned procdures should be tried first.to suggest that you "just do this" is putting your snake at risk.

Well we tried the warm water soaks and massages and while the eggs were moving they were not coming out. She had one egg at the vent, two about an inch or so further up and one a couple of inches further than that.(if I can figure out how to post pictures I have a couple of good ones of the eggs.)
We ended up going to the Vet three times starting on friday.(she laid her 6 eggs monday midnight).Visit #1 was an oxytocin injection and we returned six hours later and aspirated the egg at the vent and got a second oxytocin injection. She expelled the aspirated egg within a couple of hours and Saturday (vet visit #3) we aspirated the reamining three eggs and received more oxytocin.
So far she has expelled one more eggshell and has eaten a pinky and started to shed so we are waiting to see what happens next.
I thank everyone for their advice, it is appreciated.
Oh and my snakes didn't brumate, hibernate or shed before they mated so This is a good argument for keeping them seperated even if they are still young.(we kept them together since they were hatchlings but they are not siblings).

phiber, you ask an excellent question. let me add a bit. first, this is why i made the the point of having someone you trust hold the snake. this would be risky if the snake were to move around while you are doing this. second, when a snake binds up, she will be very skinny from having laid most of her eggs, so the stuck egg is very swollen compared to the rest of her body, just belly skin and egg. her vital organs are all forward of the eggs, i worry far more about her spine. that is what i mean by put your finger on the needle. if the egg appears to be a half inch thick, stop the needle at a quarter inch. that way you stay in the egg. this procedure is certainly not to be taken lightly, for sure. but it can be lifesaving, and is not difficult if done with care. some people may not wish to do this as the first option, i understand. but it does work, so keep it in your bag of tricks in case all else fails. see you at the top, kd