Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just would like to know the experiences that others have had with BRBs that retain infertile ova after giving birth. Between a reptile buddy and me who have produced quite a bit of BRBs I'm noticing a pattern on the animals that have retained infertile ova. After giving birth they usually refuse to feed, or start to feed and regurge and stop. Then they look emaciated and horrible. About two or three months after giving birth, they start to eat again. Currently, I have one female with two retained infertile ova from last year. She started feeding about a month ago and now have been feeding and defecating normally although the infertile ova has not been passed. I'm hoping she'll pass these but previous experiences have been mixed. I wonder how everyone else's BRBs that retained are faring.

John,
...My experiences with them are somewhat like yours. I have a few retained ova every year. Some of them get delivered a week or two after parturition and things go well from there. A few stay stuck for extended periods and cause feeding problems though they do seem to do okay with smaller meals. I have had some luck attempting to super hydrate the female soaking them in luke warm water for an hour or two and then letting them swim in deeper water in the bath tub. The swimming motion will help to increase peristatic action in the intestines and hopefully also in the oviducts. A small percentage of them do not pass them and eventually have serious problems and die. My uneducated opinion is that surgical intervention would result in a very expensive infertile snake. I have heard of poor results trying to treat with Pitocin to stimulate contracions to get the snake to deliver them. Possibly due to the slugs being very dry and sticking to the oviducts so seriously that stronger contractions cause injury.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>Just would like to know the experiences that others have had with BRBs that retain infertile ova after giving birth. Between a reptile buddy and me who have produced quite a bit of BRBs I'm noticing a pattern on the animals that have retained infertile ova. After giving birth they usually refuse to feed, or start to feed and regurge and stop. Then they look emaciated and horrible. About two or three months after giving birth, they start to eat again. Currently, I have one female with two retained infertile ova from last year. She started feeding about a month ago and now have been feeding and defecating normally although the infertile ova has not been passed. I'm hoping she'll pass these but previous experiences have been mixed. I wonder how everyone else's BRBs that retained are faring.