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I have been pretty pumped because it looked like I was going to produce Capes for the first time this year. Yesterday the female had gotten 3 eggs out and it looked like there were 4 more in her. I woke up this morning, went to the snake room and she had passed away. Total shock. I tried to save the still unlaid eggs. I ended up with a total of 6 that were possibly good. I don't know. Not a great way to begin a weekend. Take care all.

Jeremy

bummer. sorry to hear that jeremy.....

Oh man- that sucks-ass.

Sorry to hear, man...

//Todd

Just curious, was she egg bound? If so, for how long before she passed?
I no longer work with pits but when I did, I had a similar problem. First year breeder, albino sonoran, egg bound, and I lost her just as you describe. Warm water soaking did not help. I could not massage the egg down to her vent, no chance of aspirating the egg, etc.

Sorry to hear about your gopher. Yes she was eggbound. While removing the eggs this morning, I noticed that the last egg was badly twisted. I'm not sure how it happened but I have to think that could have been the culprit. Definately not what I wanted to have happen. I guess the more animals you breed the higher the probability that something like this could happen. I remember a post John Cherry had some time back stating the dangers of breeding. This is just an example of that danger. I have two animals left to lay this year and I don't think I'll relax now until their eggs are on the ground. Thanks everyone. Take care.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

Very sorry to hear about the cape. That is a really a bad deal for you and the animal. Unfortunately it does happen and it seems that when it does it is always an animal you are really proud of and cherish.

Interesting enough a good friend in Europe contacted me the other day about a similar situation. He has been working with pits for a number of years and had a cape of his that egg bound. She was a 6 year old proven breeder that had never had a problem before( 2 previous clutches). She laid 4 eggs and had three more inside her. She died in much the same manner as you described.

He attributes the egg binding to having kept the female at too warm a tempeture after breeding ( approx. 8-10 degrees higher, because of a bad A/C unit). I am not sure I agree with him, but it is his position that the female's tempeture was elevated during the last several weeks of carrying the eggs and it caused them to begin development and become too large to pass for her size. In quick passing this could make some sense, but then again I am going to have to re-think it for a while before I buy into it.

I do know though that I have had corns that laid huge eggs and in some cases had laying problems and then the eggs were short hatching clutches IE less than normal by several weeks.

Not sure that this has any correlation, but it is indeed something to think about.

Again sorry to hear about the loss,

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms

Thank you John.

That is a very interesting theory that you described. I'd definately be interested in hearing your thoughts on it after you've pondered it for a while. Hope all is well with you and yours. Take care.

Jeremy

I forgot to include some information that might help you in your thoughts. My capes are on the bottom shelves of the racks where it stays pretty much 75-78 degrees (at most maybe varying a degree either way). Of course this doesn't mean that your friends thoughts are incorrect, as a matter of fact I think that it makes sense. Higher incubation temps tend to result in shorter incubation periods, so in turn I can see some sense in having advanced prelaying embryonic development due to higher ambient temperatures in a cage. Thank you again John for your kind words and your insight. Take care.

Jeremy