Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay all you nelson breeders , help me out here Please. If my girl is egg bound I want to start taking action so I dont lose her.

Today is day 14 after the pre-lay shed. She has all appearances of being gravid, and is moving in an out of her lay box, but more time is spent out of it the last two days. Please advise on what your reccomend for my next steps with her.

I had considered putting her in a rack drawer that had nothing in but moist moss, as in "one big lay box"...is this a good or bad idea?

Thanks for your help. First time breeding a nelsons, and this one is pretty special to me, so I want to play it on the safe side.

Dawn

Maybe with a UTH under it any really damp/moist. I think you should soak in warm water? Keep us posted!

having produced many albino nelsons over the years, I'd recommend just leaving her alone and maybe offering mutliple suitable hides for her to lay eggs. Sometimes snakes lay eggs in really tight spaces...so you might try offering her a little more confined egg laying container. Don't think you should mess w/ soaking....just causes stress. On several occasions I've had females go 3 weeks before laying. Granted a larger percentage of the eggs were bad but that's snake farming. If you mess w/ her too much you'll just add to the stress factor.
Good luck,
Russ

I would add a second lay box with much more moss in it. Think tight fit and you will get the idea. Squeeze the water out and then have enough to fill all the space inside the container.

On a different note the eggs may be bound but I am on the far side of tis issue away from almost everyone else. The factor to look at is if the lumps are hard or getting hard. If they are hard then you have a issue but if they are not you may have just bred her to early and she is not going to lay right now, or this year at all.

I have a female alterna in the other room that looks just like your girl and she has looked that way since I bought her cheap in September from someone who was trying to sell her because she was "egg bound". He didn't tell me she was egg bound until I asked of course. In her, the eggs are soft. I showed her to a Vet and he didn't know what to say and said surgery could be a option but he wasn't sure if it was needed or not.

So in other words you need to decide if she has hard eggs or soft and go from there. I have had one female die from egg binding but it was after she had laid some eggs. This snake not laying may mean you bred to young and she has not developed fertile eggs. A vet visit may be in order but you may put her through unnecessary surgery if the vet is not experienced.

Good Luck
Jason