Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

We have a 8 year-old speckled king that, last year, developed eggs without being cooled or bred and became egg bound. After a couple (expensive) vet visits, patience, and lots of KY, we managed to sucessfully massage all of the hardened slugs out of her.

This year, we decided to cool her and breed her to try and prevent the problem from happening again. A friend bred her to one of his males for us, and she became very gravid within weeks. Two weeks ago today she had her pre-lay shed. In the past, our females have laid their eggs 6-11 days after their shed. I am starting to get worried about her again. She is very active and seems to be uncomfortable. She is absolutely huge in the rear 1/2.

How long would you guys wait until you take action like taking her to a vet? What is the longest you have seen a gravid king go after their pre-lay shed and still lay a normal healthy clutch?

Any advice or input is welcome.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Tom Anderson

I have had two corn snakes become egg bound this year. I massaged the eggs out of both - but the eggs remained in the oviduct. I had to cut through the oviduct to get the eggs out. I would not advise this.

Concerning your situation, one of my Eastern Kings went almost 20 days from her pre-lay shed until she deposited her eggs and my Hatteras Outer Banks Kingsnake also went over the 2 week mark. In both cases they laid without a hitch.

It is very normal for your snakes to roam and roam before laying, in my experience. As a matter of fact, that is when you know she is ABOUT TO LAY THEM. My Hatteras OBK roamed for days and days and actually rubbed her snout raw. I saw the raw snout last night and immediately made her nesting box more secretive. I had been using an open topped shoe box filled with vermiculite and spaghum moss - but when I saw her raw snout I cut a hole in the lid of the shoe box and put it on top of the shoe box. Then I put a sheet of newspaper on top of the whole thing. This was at 11:30 last night. At 5 AM all eggs (11 total) were neatly arranged in the nesting box.

So, take a new look at your snake's enclosure and the nesting box and try to figure out if you are giving her what she needs to do her job.

Good luck.
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Peter Jolles
East Coast Colubrids
www.eastcoastcolubrids.com
peterjolles@eastcoastcolubrids.com

Thanks a lot for the help Peter. Tonight, I'll move her cage to the snake room where it's quieter and try to secure her egg box so she feels safer. I'm relieved to hear that you've had snakes go 3 weeks before laying normally. Last year's ordeal was way too stressful!

I'll post a pic when she finally drops her eggs...

Take care,
Tom

I have lost one snake due to egg binding. I can't really tell you when to take action but I can tell you aspirating an egg is not hard but you need to do it before the yolk hardens.
If you have ever been shown how to give an injection by a vet you can do it yourself, if not then you should probably have a vet show you the first time.
Basicly you just get a heavy gauge needle, make sure the plunger is all the way down with no air inside the body of the syringe and then stick it through the side of the snake and all the way into the middle of the egg that is closest to the vent. Suck out as much yolk as you can and pull the needle out. When you pull the needle out have some cotton soaked in Betadine ready to cover the hole as you take the needle out and hold it over the hole for 30 seconds or so.
After this you can either let the snake try to pass the egg on her own or you can try to gently palpate it out. Once the egg closest to the vent is out she may be able to pass the rest of them on her own or you may have to repeat the procedure for each egg.

... My Eastern this year went about 15 days after her shed before she laid. For the few days before she laid she was super active like others have mentioned.
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Matt from Minnesota