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My 7 year old speckled kingsnake devoloped eggs this year and impacted (most likely because I did not think to supply her with an egg box until too late). I have never bred her, and did not cool her this past winter. She was in a 30 gal in my living room where the ambient temp was about 69°F this past winter. One end of the tank was heated with an undertank heater to about 88°F. Her appetite slowed down over the winter, but she did eat at least every 3 weeks.

Three days ago, I noticed she was egg bound. There was a huge lump just above the cloaca. I could feel five or six eggs in there, and she was obviously umcomfortable. I put an egg box in there, and she stayed in the box until today without passing a single egg. My girlfriend took her to the vet today and they removed the first one (it looked sideways on the x-ray), and said the rest will most likely soon follow.

I have never seen this in my collection, and don't know how uncommon it is. In the future I will put an egg box in with every mature female, brumated or not, bred or not, just to be on the safe side, and avoid potential problems.

Please comment and share similar experiences.

Thanks for reading.

Tom Anderson

>>My 7 year old speckled kingsnake devoloped eggs this year and impacted (most likely because I did not think to supply her with an egg box until too late). I have never bred her, and did not cool her this past winter. She was in a 30 gal in my living room where the ambient temp was about 69°F this past winter. One end of the tank was heated with an undertank heater to about 88°F. Her appetite slowed down over the winter, but she did eat at least every 3 weeks.
>>
>>Three days ago, I noticed she was egg bound. There was a huge lump just above the cloaca. I could feel five or six eggs in there, and she was obviously umcomfortable. I put an egg box in there, and she stayed in the box until today without passing a single egg. My girlfriend took her to the vet today and they removed the first one (it looked sideways on the x-ray), and said the rest will most likely soon follow.
>>
>>I have never seen this in my collection, and don't know how uncommon it is. In the future I will put an egg box in with every mature female, brumated or not, bred or not, just to be on the safe side, and avoid potential problems.
>>
>>Please comment and share similar experiences.
>>
>>Thanks for reading.
>>
>>Tom Anderson

np

a lay box and being egg-bound. Nothing to do with each other. They will lay with or without a lay box. She would have been egg bound anyways.

Hope she makes it through okay.

Kerby...

I have heard that if some reptiles (iguanas, geckos, etc) do not find a suitable nesting site in good time, they will retain the eggs and become egg bound. Not true for snakes?

She was laying in the water bowl the day I noticed the lump.

Have you ever had a North American kingsnake develope and lay eggs without being cooled or bred?

Tom

Lets's use California Kingsnakes that live here in Arizona for example. Some live in higher altitudes where they experience harsh winters and are used to being brumated and then a few hundred miles away they live in a low desert environment where they experience warmer weather for 10 months and on some years the "cycle" is very short and sometimes not at all - they breed.

Snakes can be prompted to ovulate more so by the frequency of feeding after brumation than by the brumation itself. Just like if you want to double-clutch a female (feed her often after egg-laying, then she will ovulate again).

Some snakes in the wild will lay their eggs in the same spot year after year...others find new spots every year. I've had cal kings just lay their eggs without a lay box (wasn't expecting them to lay so soon LOL). I would obviously recommend to anyone to have a lay box and to reduce the stress of the female as much as possible. Water dishes are a no-no during this time. I've had snakes lay in their water dishes as well (when I wasn't expecting eggs that soon), so now they don't get water dishes at all after their pre-shed, instead I just spray them down with a spray bottle really hard. They will drink the water off their scales.

Kerby...

I wonder how often brumating kings re-absorb the eggs instead of laying them?

take care,
Tom Anderson