Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, folks,
Have any of you good folks had the experience or seen documentation of snakes becoming egg bound with slugs, because the female was not bred in that season?
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Regards, Bill McGighan

"Dystocia" covers a wide range of reproductive disorders related to a female not being able to lay her eggs.

There are a few reasons why a female snake could not lay her infertile eggs. Obesity is a huge contributor to dystocia in snakes and lizards, if she's too fat she may have difficulty laying eggs (fertile or not). She could also be too weak from malnutrition or another underlying illness- snakes and lizards use their abdomenal muscles to push eggs out of the oviducts, which takes a lot of energy.

There could also be a physical obstruction somewhere in the oviducts- an abcess, tumour, cyst, etc...

If the snake is in good condition- eating, well-hydrated, good body condition, I wouldn't be too concerned right away. A vet visit should be in order, though, especially if the snake becomes depressed, lethargic or is in poor body condition.

Christina
www.herptiles.net

Thank you so much for that response, Christina. That was great.
The context of this question is that another herper and I were discussing on another forum the value of giving sexually mature female Rat Snakes "the season off" so to speak.
The possibility of binding from infertile eggs came to mind.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Good to hear that you don't have a snake in trouble right now. As long as a snake is in good health, the chance of dystocia is low. I imagine that slugs are easier to pass than fully-developed eggs, being more pliable, so if any of the aforementioned problems are applicable/occur, I would think that problems are even less likely to occur with "mushy" slugs.

Interesting discussion

Christina
www.herptiles.net

Female snakes are very adept at energy conservation and unless certain environmental and physiological cues are present, the production and passing of unfertilized ova, or slugs is usually not going to occur. Reproductively mature and healthy females will typically produce follicles in their ovaries when the proper environmental triggers are present. These follicles will develop and mature within the ovaries. Unless the female is physiologically cued to release the matured ova into the oviducts, they will remain as follicles within the ovaries and atrophy over time. Males play a large role in this initiation of ova maturation and release, and it is rare for a female to release mature ova and subsequently deposit slugs when she has never been exposed to a male. Additionally, temperature is probably the most critical factor in reptile reproduction. If you do not cool or shorten the photoperiod on females you do not intend to breed, and if you definitely do not expose them to males, the chances of mature ova being released would be extremely remote. Great question.

Kelly

Thanks, Kelly,
Good stuff.
Consistent with my experiences.
I have a Rutheven's king that was bred in 1999, but hasn't seen a male since. Only one year in between did she lay infertile eggs, and they were soft enough to pass with no problem.
I do appreciate the response.
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Regards, Bill McGighan