Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The female in question is a well fed very healthy honduran. This is the first known time that she has been bred. Nine days have past since she laid her clutch. She laid very slowly. Approximately one egg every 4-6 hours. She pushed out various size eggs of which one is just a monster. Nine days have passed and she is retaining 3 eggs. Two are up high and are not together. The third is at the vent and it is large. For the past day or so i have been administering warm baths and gentle massage. She readily took down a small meal last night. This is a new problem that i have not encountered. I am getting worried and could use some reasurance or suggustions.

Thanks
Brian
HighWAterHErps

I would certainly aspirate that egg.

In case you haven't done it before, just get a sterile syringe with a fairly large gauge needle (an 18 gauge usually works OK - like shotguns, smaller numbers mean larger gauge). A local drug store should have one. While someone else holds the snake steady, wipe the area above the egg with alcohol and carefully insert the needle into the skin and into the egg. Pull out as much fluid from the egg as you can through the needle. I prefer to use a larger syringe for this (3ml for example) so I can get a lot of material out of the egg in one aspiration. The egg should be much smaller when you are done. Degerm the needle puncture with alcohol again and put her back. The egg should pass within a day or so and the others may follow with no problem.

The aspirated egg will not hatch and the others that follow may not either, but at least your female will survive to breed another year.
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Chris Harrison

wouldn't it be better to aspirate the egg without going through the side of the snake if he can actually see it at the vent? Just a thought.
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~Sasheena

Brian,
I lost one egg bound Cal. King several years ago trying to massage a retained egg. Since then I provide a shallow pan to soak in and leave egg bound females alone. Last year my female Honduran laid 12 eggs then waited 17 days to pass the 13th egg. A friend’s Eastern Indigo retained 3 eggs, passing the last one 3 months later. With a small sample size of 4 females with retained eggs I have so far been lucky with this approach. I’m interested in the opinions of more experienced breeders. Best of luck with your female.
Paul

Link

Can you explain how much water (ie. depth) you put in the pan, and also whether you confine the snake to the area so that she must soak, or can she freely move in and out of the soak pan.
Thanks!
Paul

I've been soaking her in approx 1-1.5 inchs of warm water in a tub.

Brian
hwh

Is she able to get out of the tub, or is she confined to it?

She is able to crawl out. But i am supervising her as it is located outside of her enclosure. I keep her in the water for 5-10 minutes and replace her to her enclosure.

Brian