Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all... One of my Cal Kings is finally laying her eggs. These eggs are the last clutch of the season for me. She started laying about 5 am Sat morning, so far 8 good looking eggs. It is now 2 am Sun morning and it feels like she still has 4 eggs left. My other Cal King laid 12 eggs in less than a day, so I am getting a bit worried. She hasn't laid an egg in several hours. This is a first time female.

Should I be worrying about egg binding? If she is, how do I help her out? This is my first experience with a possible egg bound reptile, and am afraid I am at a loss.

Any help appreciated!!
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is generally the best thing you can do. The constant checking and rechecking is extremely stressful and in my experience I find just leaving the snake alone usually does the trick. I have aspirated eggs before with success but I'm now a firm believer in just letting nature take its course. I had a few snakes retain eggs this year and when left alone they passed them about two weeks after laying healthy clutches. I do understand your concern but I still recommend leaving her be for at least a week and then check on her. If the eggs are going to be stuck...then they are going to be stuck. My 2 cents.
Russ

Thank you Russ, I will leave her alone. What does aspirating the eggs mean?
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stciking a large needle in her side and drawing the contents of the egg out so that she'll pass the egg. Not pleasant but every herper needs to experience it at least once.

Yikes! Is that something I need to go to the vet for? It will be good to know for future reference.
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I don't personally feel you need to have a vet do it but I'm sure others will disagree. IT's simply a matter of locating the egg and inserting the hyperdermic needle into the side of the snake and penetrating the egg and slowly draw back on the syringe. The fluid from the egg will follow. I don't recommend this because usually you just end up with a pet snake instead of a breeder snake in the end. If allowed to pass them naturally they can and do often rebound and breed successfully the following years.

Russ

Ok, well, its good to know just in case I have to ever resort to that method. Thanks for the help!
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Egg-binding is fairly common and in most cases only last a few days or weeks. The only thing is you will lose the eggs if you don't palpitate them out manually right away. But that takes some knowledge and practice so i would not reccomened it to someone new to snakes because you will just stress the snake out.

I would strongly suggest you leave the snake alone and don't take it to the vet or try any drastic methods to remove the eggs. I have had snakes pass eggs 1 month, 2 months, 6 months. 1 year later.

I have a new story to share from this year. Last year ('06)one of my female sulfur lavs got eggbound with what appeared to be a very high number of eggs. I did not palpitate them out and just left her alone. This spring she still had the eggs masses inside of her and was HUGE. I bred her and she laid 16 perfect eggs and had still retained the eggs from last year. They shrunk some and are hardened masses now but she is still huge after laying 18 eggs. She started feeding and everything is on course except she is still carrying those eggs.Go figure(?)

Now I have never heard of an experience like mine so if anyone has any explanations I would like to hear how this can happen.

In most cases a snake will pass the eggs naturally (eventually)and the above is just an extreme example and one I have never heard of before. Just not a good idea to mess with them and let nature takes its course. The eggs will come out eventually on their own.
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Wow, that is quite the story! I feel so much better now. I thought I had heard of it possibly being fatal, so I was getting worried. I had a bird die because of egg binding when I was very young, so that may have added to my paranoia. Since I guess the eggs won't be any good anyway, so I'll remove her nest box and just let her be for a while.

By the way, how can I learn to palpatate the eggs out? I was able to easily count how many were left... similar practice, but a little more pressure?

Thanks so much!!
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If the snake has already gone 48 hours I would not bother with palpitaing.

Trying to explain it on the internet can cause more problems. I would really have to show you. Its like popping a male hemipenis.

Basically you don't start with the last egg but the first (nearest to the vent) if you can get that first one out the others will follow with littel effort.

Place your fingers under the belly of the female and press behind the last egg like you are tring to press the spine. Make sure you don't crack any ribs and keep the pressure up for at least a few seconds (don't release your fingers or the egg will slip back). The hardest part is when the gg gets closest to the vent. That takes some time, pressure and experience. Some open up easier than others.
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Oh and a lot of vets are not experienced enough with snakes and usually refer to the handbook in their office when nobodys looking. Stay away from vets who suggest surgery. Your snake will thank you for it.

What a good vet will do is what I described only they will add a water jet-spray during the procedure to help open the vent. Something I don't find neccessary unless you have a prolapsed oviduct.
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Thanks for the helpful info!! I'll remember the palpatating thing if it ever happens again. Good thing I know how to pop snakes.

I guess for now I'll just let her be for a while. This all comes as a shock for me because I thought eggbinding was a very bad thing. It's relieving to know that it probably won't harm her.

Thanks!!
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Eggbinding can be a problem for certain species but I never heard of it being a problem with cal kings or getula.
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Don't remove the nest box. You still want her to pass those eggs and even if they wont be good she is still more likely to do it in the box.