Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted yesterday and didnt get as many opinions as I had hoped so Im trying again.

I have a female ball that is now 33 days post ovualtion shed. When do I start to get worried? She has made her nest and has been tightly coiled for several weeks. She is now adjusting she position frequently but no eggs.

She does have a tail kink and this is her first attempt at reproduction.

How often do females become egg bound?
What causes females to become egg bound?

Thanks Tony

What's the humidity in that box? It looks pretty much bone dry in the photo. If it is, this may be one of the reasons she is reluctant to lay her eggs. But 33 days isn't 'vet-time' quite just yet.

If it was me, I'd get some nice damp fresh moss (or similar) into that box, thus reproducing the sort of environment where she might lay her eggs in the wild. Hopefully all should go well for you.

If not...post again!

I too agree that 33 days isn't late-she'll probably lay within a few days, regardless of egg-box humidity levels. I'd be interested in knowing the # of days of the ovulation-post ov shed interval. For females with this interval being short, the shed-laying interval tends to be longer, sometimes quite a bit longer. This year, one of my females had an ov-pos of 14-15 days, another female that is 12-13 days post ov hasn't even gone blue yet.

Dystocia (egg retention) is not particularly common in BPs, but is more often seen in small females, which is true of other snake species. Smaller females have to work harder to pass normal-sized eggs.

Causative factors, in addition to size, are believed to involve low serum calcium levels and/or low oxytocin levels during the period of egg deposition. Other factors may involve muscle factors (both smooth muscle of the oviducts and striated muscle of the abdominal (caelomic) wall), and energy reserves which involve glycogen stores. So dystocia is multi-factoral and little has been learned in the last 15-20 years.

I agree that increasing the humidity should be done, because it is needed for proper egg respiration, but I don't think it will induce the female to lay sooner. HYDRATION STATUS of the female herself could also be a factor in dytocia, and fresh water should always be closely available. Note: do not confuse humidity with hydration status of the female.

I think that you'll be reporting a clutch of fertile eggs within a few days; if they were infertile the female would probably have deposited them already.

Good luck!
Scott J. Michaels DVM