Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Unfortunatley for some of you guys egg binding has been an issue this year and in the past. One thing Im curious about is do you think a snake being overweight can contribute to this problem ? Ive seen other overweight females in Eastern Kings become eggbound so I thought maybe Indigo's are extra sensitive if over-weight. Dean I know you have done research on wild Indigos . How do like sized captive females compare with wild females as far as weight ? Do you have any records on weights of wild females to compare with cap bred animals ? Maybe weight is not an issue just a thought as to why this particular snake seems to be stricken with egg binding with some regularity. Is egg binding an issue with other Drys or just Couperi ? Look forward to hearing everyones thoughts.

Regards,

Keith

Keith, I don't have any formal records to compare, but I'm sure I can get them. It would be good to actually do a comparison.

Generally speaking the wild snakes I've seen from central Florida seem to be thinner than a typical captive snake (as you would assume) with the exception of very large males, which tend be be as "girthy" in the wild as they are in captivity.

The wild snakes in GA that I've seen were much heavier than the FL snakes by comparison. Not sure what to attibute this to. It seems they really are meant to be large and powerfully built...not "triangle shaped" although a few in FL were like that...it may be due to high parasite infestation.

My thought would be that as long as you don't have a "scale distended" obese female it should not create too much of a problem, but it would be interesting to compare the captive vs wild snake length / weights.

I would think that the lack of activity in captivity would more likely be the culprit, but I'm starting to think that they just cannot rebound enough to bred annually.

I hear what your saying about snake with spread out scales showing an obviously overweight snake but I also know in humans we can have internal fat that can cause problems with organs. Im not sure if this would translate to reptiles but its a thought. Also do other Drys have egg binding problems ? Do wild gravid females do much traveling ? I always thought once gravid they hole up in a gopher burrow and maybe come out to bask etc... but not much hunting ? Do you feed females until they refuse food once gravid or cut it back ? I know the general thinking with alot of people is to feed the females until they refuse as to not have a real thin female after laying,but how much real hunting are they doing in the wild when gravid ?

Keith