Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So.
I've got this female Honduran who has never been a real prize specimen. She eats irregularly but other than being small has remained mostly healthy. Never being particularly robust I've never made real efforts to breed her. In fact, I began to wonder if she had in fact been sexed incorrectly. I briefly put her with a male a while ago just to see if they would become aggresive (and therby suggesting that she was in fact a male.) Well, it seems she was actually female as originally thought. I didn't witness any actual breeding, but courting behaviour did occur.
Earlier this year, I got her eating more regularly by doing the wiggle trick; ie. wiggling f/t mice in front of her with tongs. She put on a bit of weight. However, a few weeks back she once again went off food entirely.
So, about ten days ago she had a bad shed. Not sure why, as humidity boxes are always provided and she's never had problems before. At any rate, I soaked her for a bit and used some Shed-Ease and got most of it off, though she still retained some scraps. But then, lo and behold she goes opaque -again- ! Thinking that was a bit odd, I made sure her humidity box hadn't dried out at all and let her be. I return home from work today to find that she's laid a slug right on top of the carefresh. She's still opaque I might add.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but often a slug is laid a few days early if it's one out of a clutch of good eggs, yes? I suppose it's within the realm of possibility that she managed to get her groove thing on in that brief time she was with the male, became gravid and THAT'S why she went off food again.
Does this logic work to you?
If that's the case, I suppose it's possible I might be looking at a couple of healthy eggs after the shed.

Any possible hypothesis for the rapid sheds? With a bad shed, is it unheard of for another shed to follow so rapidly?
But I'm still concerned about her health in general and find myself wishing I hadn't put her with that male.
-----
-Paul

she may be gravid and this would either be discarding of a few bad slugs or more to come. I had a mandarin do the same thing except go into another shed. She laid all slugs, even outside the nesting area, scattered over 7 days. I would suspect, but not sure, that the second shed came on so quickly to properly prepare her body for laying and that she didn't feel adequate enough from the previous one. There is a possibility of more viable eggs but I would guess that more slugs are to come. I would recommend just leaving her alone as much as possible (as I'm sure you already know) in order to promote a less stressful environment. Sometimes when they stress they go into premature laying mode and egg binding will follow. I hope this isn't the case for you. Good luck and keep us posted, these are just a few things I've encountered over the years.

thanks
mgl

so if she actually is gravid, she has somewhere to lay them. You definitely don't want her eggbound. Just my opinion, as I have never had a snake lay slugs OR eggs, even though I did observe definite mating on several occasions.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

Well, she's laid three more slugs.
She's got a nesting box and she's ignoring it. She's just dropping slugs on the carefresh. I don't -think- she's got any more in here, but I'm not sure, and I'm just letting her be for a bit. The last one I found late last night (Tues) and she hasn't laid any since.
-----
-Paul

another mandarin is doing exactly what your hondo is doing. I've never seen it with milks but she has laid 3 slugs (1 in the water, 1 on the substrate, and 1 in the nesting area). She just shed yesterday. The only common factor I see with both mandarins is that they laid the day after their sheds, all slugs. Maybe your shed story has something similar. Good news, however, is that the first female is cleaned out and didn't become eggbound.

mgl

I think my girl is done.
She's laid four slugs and I'm pretty sure she's got nothin' left. She still hasn't shed though.
On a brighter note, one of my three other girls laid today too.. pics in a separate post.
-----
-Paul

albinos...read the other post

good luck
mgl

She shed today, all of it, finally, and looks good.
However, with her skin and colours cleared up, I can now clearly see that she's got one more egg in her. And it's not exactly close to the vent either.
I'm hoping this one might actually be fertile in which case maybe it'll stay in there another week or so and have time to move down.

Anyone had experience with this? If a snake lays slugs early, HOW early does it usualy happen?
-----
-Paul

Usually, slugs are laid about 4-6 days after the shed. If you've had a lot of slugs already delivered by this female, my guess is that this last egg is a slug as well. When you say it's not near the vent, how far away is it? If it's 2-3" or so, you might consider aspirating it to help it move down. If it's farther than that though, my preference would be to leave it alone.
-----
Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Well, this girl has already laid four slugs, all of which were about 3-4 days BEFORE the shed.
She shed two days ago, and she's got at least one more (maybe two) more small lumps in her about 6-8 inches up from the vent. They've got to be more duds. They're too small to be anything else.

I'm going out of town Wed morning, so I'm not taking any chances and I made an appt. for the vet tomorrow night.
-----
-Paul