Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi FR, It's that time of year. Alot of talk on the Forums (indigo/milk/king) now about egg binding. Any thoughts on the matter? I know you took a vacation for a while there with Kings but do you have any ideas? Over the years I've heard everything from lack of excerise/muscle tone, cage size,diet,calcium,drinking water, handling,secure laying boxes...you name it... Thanks,
Bob

After one of my snakes went egg-bound, years ago, I switched to larger enclosures and haven't had the problem again (on Kathy Love's advice).
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Dehydration is the most common cause of eggbinding(on an otherwise healthy individual) this is most commonly caused by improper nesting. The holding of the eggs for periods of time longer then normal causes the females to test their physical conditions. They hold their eggs until then cannot hold them any longer, hence the depleted appearance of many females. Normally with proper nesting, they do not look depleted.

Consider, nesting is of prime importance to snake species, they each have particular and repeatable method of where and how they nest. And of course, this area of their biology is commonly ignored and misunderstood.

Of course their are many other causes, like scaring the the oviducts from infections(protozoan and bacteria). These cause the eggs to adhere to the walls of the oviducts. Cheers

You're absolutely correct, although I've really never considered that before.
Good choices of nesting places in the wild must be fairly difficult to locate, and the females must need be very particular.It's likely that many eggs spoil due to unforseen environmental conditions.
In fact, since reproduction is one of the most driving of ecological factors, egg placement must be one of the most important considerations of any oviporous animal.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

Thanks Frank, As usual I appreciate you sharing your thoughts/ideas.
Bob