Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Gave my female candycane corn her first breeding this year being 3 1/2 yrs old.
Found her laying eggs early yesterday, 6/6/11,there were 7 laid and had two to go.
Late that night the two were not laid yet and did not seem to move down through the snakes body.
Early morning on 6/7/11, I expected to see good news but there was no change seeing two bumps still in the snakes body.
This afternoon I went to take a picture of her to post here for advice and I found she was gone. Damn.
The only thing I could think of doing was to perform surgery so I removed the two remaining eggs to add to the others in the incubator. Those two look healthy as do the others.
This was a healthy snake feeding very well. If she wasn't I would have waited and bred her next year.
She was thick before laying and just looked fat with all 9 eggs in her. You couldn't tell any number that she had until there were only two left that were spaced about 3" apart, and thats how they stayed.
This is a first for me. Anyone else see this happen?
Mike.

Mike, I'm so sorry that happened. I, too, wonder what caused it.
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Amy Claiborne

Don't let them take your wasted time. J.T.

Some times unexplainable things happen. Sorry for your loss, I hope you get some beautiful babies!
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
Jorge Sierra

My Site > www.Sierrasnakes.com

Sorry to hear that.
I've been breeding snakes for over thirty years and NEVER had THAT happen. I just want to let you know that this is an extremely rare event and hope that this will not discourage you from breeding snakes in the future... I wish I could tell you what caused this, but I can't, and it's one of those things that you could not prevent no matter how well you cared for your animal....
I myself had several snakes over the years that were very healthy (no internal parasites), looked great, ate like pigs and suddenly were found dead in the cage.... The only conclusion I can come up with, is that it may have been a genetic deficiency within these snakes that we were not aware of.....

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Sorry to hear that happened to the snake. It is really impossible to say what might have caused it. As Zee(Blue King) mentioned, there are numerous internal things that can happen that are just completely out of the keeper's control. It could have been a hemorrhage that happened to her after the egg deposition, who knows.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"