Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Black Milk is laying her first clutch and I'm worried there may be a problem. She laid 3 eggs right away, one egg a day later, and now there are three eggs left in her with no progress for the past 3 days. The eggs are positioned right by her vent with the first one about an inch away.

I'm an experienced breeder with Ball Pythons, but this is my first Milk Snake clutch. I read that they can take up to a month to pass all of their eggs, but that seems a bit unusual.

Can any experienced Milk Snake breeders give me some info. on what is a normal amount of time to wait for a clutch to be delivered? At what point should I try to assist her in massaging the egg out or aspirating the egg?

Dealing with egg bound snakes can be handled many different ways. I've talked to a great many people regarding this problem and everyone seems to have their prefered method of solving this issue. This is just my spin on it and by know means do I consider my self an expert or even successful in this area. All I breed are gray-banded kingsnakes, milk snakes and hognose snakes. My first successful breeding was in 1979. Most of my snakes will deposit their entire clutch within 24 hours after they start. Occasionally one will take a little longer but that usually indicates a problem. I had an alterna this season start laying 16 days after her pre-egg laying shed. Normally they lay 8-12 days after their pre-laying shed. She laid one egg at 16 days then 5 more 48 hours later. She laid 6 eggs total and only 1 appears good. I've had this happen before and usually all the eggs will be bad. I've had a great many snakes become egg bound during laying mostly larger milk snakes; andeans, hondurans, nelsoni and campbelli. I've tried many different methods to extract the eggs with mixed results. Unless the egg is really close to the vent they can be really hard to extract without damaging the snake. Massaging the eggs out can sometimes work but care must be given to prevent damage. I've tried exasperating eggs with disastrous results. The best luck I've had is soaking in luke warm water and letting them pass natually. I don't know if any of this is helpful but I wish you the best of luck with saving your snake and eggs! Stu

Thanks Stu!

I took your advice and have her soaking in lukewarm water now. I'll take her out in a couple of hours and see if she can finish up. If not, I'll try to massage out the first egg on Sunday.
-----
www.SuperiorSerpents.com

I agree with Stu, and it is at the hands of the owner and how he/she choose to skin the cat so to speak. I have tried both methods Stu described both with a 50/50 or so out come. I did have a one of a kind knoblochi this year become eggbound. I actually took a different approach than the ones Stu described.

With the help of a Vet, we massaged around the egg and to see if it was actually attached to the uterus. After careful consideration that the egg wouldn't move to ventral scales either way we decided that it was stuck. In this case the vet decided to see if we could actually flush the egg from the uterus using a catherter and a salene solution. We flushed the snake for roughly 15 minutes to no avail. The egg was still stuck. We then decided to inject the snake Dioxcin(I think that was the name) to induce labor. I then brought the snake home and brought the all around temperature up to 86 - 88 degrees. The next afternoon, roughly 24 hrs later she had passed the egg with no problems.

Just another experience, not to say this is the best method or the one you should take. The vet bill was under 100 bucks so it was well worth it and have now decided that this maybe a great alternative to some of the other self/home remedies.

I also, did the same to a thayeri, and she only passed 1 of 6 eggs that were still in her. I eventually decided to go the route of surgery with her as all the eggs were stuck in one ova duct. Unfortunately she has passed, so I have no information on whether she was breedable or not.

Unfortunately, the outcomes are always different and it depends on the situation and the owners decision. Best of luck with your Black milk!
-----
Jimmy Tintle

Thanks for the reply, Jimmy. I think you were referring to the drug Oxtocin that your vet gave to your snake. Hopefully it won't come to that, but that is certainly an option.

After the soak I moved her to a warmer cage so hopefully that will kick-start things. I'll let you know how things work out.

"Oxtocin" Yep that was it.....Good luck and thanks for the correction.
-----
Jimmy Tintle

I would start with a soaking also. The least invasive methods first. You can always get more aggressive later. Snakes will frequently pass eggs on their own if given some time. Some of my hognose snakes will lay their clutch then for the next 2 weeks pass an occasional infertile egg. Sometimes several. I've had snakes retain infertile eggs and produce good clutches the following year. Snakes can be very resilient if left alone sometimes. Best of luck with her. Stu