Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone.

Here's a story regarding my 2 year old female Okeetee corn snake, Mallory.

Mated with a snow corn on Apr 4, 2004:

Pre-lay shed May 6.
Laid 16 eggs, including 1 slug on May 21.

On the 22nd I noticed that she appeared to be egg-bound, with the final eggs stuck about an inch above the cloaca.

Took her to a reputable herp vet in Montreal ... doc gave me 2 shots of oxytocin to induce contractions. If it would work, it would work within 24 hrs ...

24 hrs later egg is still in her.

Next treatment option is oxytocin and calcium shots. Still nothing 24 hrs later.

Finally they decide that there are 2 options left: Aspiration (stick a needle through her skin, into the egg and suck out the egg juice ... she should then pass the egg.) If the aspiration doesn't work, then the final option is surgery.

Took this very cool x-ray:

Finally, around May 26th or so, they decide to go ahead with the aspiration. They call me the next day and tell me that not only did she pass the (now deflated) egg, but she also passed feces and uratess and had a perfect (post-lay) shed!

All the treatments and attention wound up costing about 300$ CAN, but I have no regrets about it. I have had Mal since she was 5 days old and I would not let her die without giving her a chance.

Since then she has had 2 meals and is pretty much back to being a normal corn snake.

The docs had no real idea why she became eggbound in the first place. I suppose I'm curious as well, but I don't really care at this point ... I don't plan on breeding her again ... way too stressful!

Interesting, eh?

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2.5 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake
0.0.2 Crested Geckos

An egg bound snake can be caused by several different factors. It can be that the female snake is to heavy and the fat gets in the way of delivery, it can be that a female snake’s cage is too small and she does not get enough exercise and dose not have the needed muscle development for laying. It can be that the snake is just too tired at the end to pass the last egg, in which case she will normally pass it a day or so later. Or it could just be that the egg is larger than normal and just plain stuck with nothing that could have prevented it.
In most cases the stuck egg can either be palpitated out or you can aspirate the egg yourself with an 18ga needle and syringe. To aspirate the egg, it is not necessary to completely drain the egg just to reduce its size. The Oxitocin is the same drug that they gave my wife to induce labor with my youngest child (now 13)LOL, I did not realize that it worked on herps too!
It is good to see that you cares enough for your snake to take the extra step and make sure it got the care it needed, congratulations on being a great herper!
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Great story, great visuals. Wow! Loved it!