Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We are just starting out in the ball pythons. Been breeding beardies for a good time now. So we bought a gravid import just to get a feel into the ball python clutchs. When she was shipped she was 2200 grams wiht 6 eggs. When she arrived at my house i opened the box to find her curreled around one egg. I was kinda excited. That was 35 days ago. still have not seen another egg pop out.(just looked). Now the one egg was not alive. Well it was fertile but when i candled it it was yellow. so we disected it and it did have an embrio. very kewl looking. She is kept in a room that gets very little light for the most part. I mean its not black but it dosnt have direct sun in it either. The temp is good and she has cypress shavings for a substrate. Dont really know what to think or do about this. Any input would be great......

Regards
Brian
LB Herps

...and she's still holding eggs, it is pretty likely that these are "retained" eggs, and without veterinary attention, probably will remain so. Often a female will sporadically pass one or more eggs as the days go by, but if after 30-35 days and nothing, she is clearly having trouble doing so. Over time, the eggs may inspissate, or dryout somewhat as fluid is extracted, but with embryos present, they have a strong tendency to rot, once the embryos die. Ultimately the immune system can't deal with the toxic load, and the female dies. This female is a definite candidate for surgery. She was clearly STRESSED during her pregnancy and this was the likely cause of this situation. I strongly urge you seek vet attention.

Good luck!
Scott J. Michaels DVM
PS-I hope you'll consider raising some BP's from babies and breeding those. BP's are great to work with, but short-cuts usually backfire. Admittedly, about 12 years ago I bought a gravid import BP, early in pregnancy for $25. She laid 5 good eggs which hatched. But she wouldn't feed for me afterwards and I gave her away (after 3 months of trying). The vast majority of captive-raised BP's recover fine after laying.

What i ment to say was she layed an egg. When i candled it it was not living. We cut the egg open and found an embrio. There for it was a good egg at one point. Now weather it was living when she layed it or not is unclear. But she will prob go in to the vet on monday to get looked at. But still would like to know anyone elses opinion. Thanks for you help though.

Brian
LB Herps

...the one embryonated egg strongly suggests that at least one or more of the retained eggs are as well. Even if none are (were) fertile, several retained infertile eggs often lead to problems, certianly for future breeding.

Glad to hear you're having her checked out. Good luck with that.

SJM

Thank you for the advice and concern. She is going in today to get checked out. The purchasing of WC balls is not what i intend to do alot of. I just saw an oppertunity to purchase a Gravid female and figured it would be better to gain some expierence with the whole incubating and laying scene befor i have my pastels and albinos next breeding season. Would hate to lose any of those because of a lack of knowladge/expierence with BP eggs. I already have a number of het for albino as well as two male pastels with 5 larger females (all above 2500 grams). well thanks again.

Regards
Brian
LB Herps