Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm happy to report that my gravid female is doing much better following a visit from the vet. Yep...it ran me some bucks! But, I found a vet who does house calls in the L.A area (great guy) and he checked my girl out and said she looks good and normal. He checked her out and confirmed that she is definitely carrying eggs. I informed him that she hasn't eaten in nearly two weeks, so he did give her a calcium injection. The good news is that she had a lot of energy and was moving around pretty good. This was a big change for her over the past couple of days. As I shared, she has been lethagic, but since I gave her the warm bath on Tuesday and got her out and about, she seems to be snapping out of it a little bit. Now, I'm just waiting for her to finally start either digging or wandering around on the bottom of her cage.

That's it for now. I'll let you know when she lays!

~MP
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1.0 Ambanja - LESTER
0.1 Nosy Be - KUBO
1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake Milksnake Phase - UNCLE WIGGLEY
0.1 Thayeri Kingsnake Leonis Phase - BOO BOO BUNNY

Good to hear she is doing better, Chris......

We generally recommend that folks wait until their female panthers are at least 10 months of age before breeding. Sure, we know of some who have had good clutches prior to that age - but many have suffered from the drain on their system and have died prematurely.

A case in point... a new keeper bred his nosy at 6.5 months. She laid 20 eggs - no problems. Later on, she laid a clutch of 24 and remained lethargic and refusing to eat. She wasted away within weeks and died before her 1st birthday. She never regained her strength from the ordeal.

Calcium can be given orally - you don't need to stress the cham by injections. This saves on vet bills as well. You can purchase calcium gluconate (or Neocalgluconate), and give the female a small dosage each day prior to egg laying. Without the proper levels of calcium in her body, egg laying is almost impossible. Afterwards, one can give small daily oral doses as well.

If she still isn't eating, you need to make sure that she is hydrated well. Once she does lay the eggs, she should be ravenous and it is recommended to dust her feeder prey with minerals and vitamins. If you are giving the oral liquid calcium, you can wait to dust with calcium supplements. Once she starts eating again, be sure to allow her to regain some of the lost weight.

Keep all of us posted on her progress...
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Yeah...I think the breeding was too soon for her. She was receptive so I wanted to see what would happen. Voila! I now know:

-Sick cham
-Vet Bill
-Possibility of losing clutch
-Loss of sleep (for me)
-Guilt

I would recommend that others should wait until their little girls are a little older. I am learning trhe hard way.

By the way, I so not have calcium drops. The vet said to watch her for two weeks and if she didn't lay, he would inject her again. However, I couldn't afford that. He showed me how to inject, so I would do that if its necesssary. Does anyone know where I can get calcium to inject her with if need be?
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1.0 Ambanja - LESTER
0.1 Nosy Be - KUBO
1.0 Thayeri Kingsnake Milksnake Phase - UNCLE WIGGLEY
0.1 Thayeri Kingsnake Leonis Phase - BOO BOO BUNNY