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My female thayeri started laying her clutch (about a dozen eggs) early yesterday morning, but there is obviously one more egg right at her vent that she hasn't passed yet. How long should I wait before I become concerned that it's "stuck"?

My instincts are to let nature take its course, but I'd appreciate hearing a voice of experience. Thanks!

>>My female thayeri started laying her clutch (about a dozen eggs) early yesterday morning, but there is obviously one more egg right at her vent that she hasn't passed yet. How long should I wait before I become concerned that it's "stuck"?
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>>My instincts are to let nature take its course, but I'd appreciate hearing a voice of experience. Thanks!

Read this reply from Rainer (Bluerosy) on the Kingsnake forum....

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1808610,1808651

I too would just wait a few more days but I have palpated eggs out before and it is not easy and has to be stressful.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

my advice is to wait and see if she passes on her own.

if she doesn't pass it within a couple days then I would aspirate the egg so that she can pass it easily. That method is least stressful for the female IMO.
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Herp Conservation Unlimited
Conservation through captive propagation
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Did she pass the egg?
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Michelle
www.AssortedSerpents.com
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

>>My female thayeri started laying her clutch (about a dozen eggs) early yesterday morning, but there is obviously one more egg right at her vent that she hasn't passed yet. How long should I wait before I become concerned that it's "stuck"?
>>
>>My instincts are to let nature take its course, but I'd appreciate hearing a voice of experience. Thanks!

Just to make you feel better Tom.....
I have a MSP female that started laying her clutch on the 22nd and just passed two more last night....She has one more left to pass and bet she does it today.......

BTW....the two she held on to for a couple days were slugs and i am sure the last one is too....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
www.coastalbendcaptivebreeding.com

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the support during this interesting episode. I have bred lots of corn snakes, cal kings, and Honduran milks in the past, but this is my first experience with thayeri.

Our neighbor is a vet tech, and when I told her what was going on, she offered to take a look. As she was gently feeling the bulge in the snake, she asked if she could try gently expressing the egg - and less than a minute later, after applying gentle but steady pressure, out popped the biggest momma egg of the clutch (about 50% larger than the others) It looks good, so it's in the incubator with the others now.

Then I noticed the snake had one pressure more egg about three inches up from her vent. I applied the same technique -- gentle, but steady pressure, watching her scales move and contract behind the egg, and one minute later I had the second egg in my hand. Best of all, there was no evidence of any blood or any tissue adhered to the eggs, so I am hopeful that not internal tearing of the oviduct occurred. The snake now seems thoroughly exhausted, so she's holed up back in the nesting box. In a day or two I will tempt her with a small fuzzy and try get her back on feed. After this first ordeal, I won't try to breed her again this season. This was her first year. and she deserves a break.

I don't know if she would have passed those eggs herself, but I thought I'd give it a try, taking my cues from the snakes's reaction. Slow, gentle, and steady seemed to do the trick. By the way, the total number of viable-looking eggs is 16. With some good luck, in 65-75 days I MIGHT be presented with the proverbial Whitman's Sampler of thayeri babies. But who's counting chickens? Not me - I've been involved with this hobby for a long time and know that nothing is a sure thing when it comes to dealing with captive reptiles.

Tom

Tom

Congrats on your success! Albeit a bit risky palpating eggs out, you got lucky.....TWICE. LOL! Now let's see what comes outta those two eggs in due time.

I, too, have a few first-timer females going for me this year and I'm hoping all goes well.

I'm sure your female will bounce back in a couple days. Allowing her to rest is essential, with fresh water and small food items to start. Nice work...
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Jerry Kruse
www.zonatas.com

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."