Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can a snake retain their eggs?
and if so will she pass them or would it be time
for vet visit? I know they can lay slugs.

I was also wondering if eggs are retained can a warm
bath help keep the eggs moving along? Like how a
warm bath helps snake that are blocked up.

(you all know what I mean)

ALL opinions are welcome...
Thank you for reading my post, and congratulations
to everyone who has had a good breeding season.

Sometimes females will retain eggs and some methods used to get the remaining eggs out would be to palpate them out or even aspirate the closest egg to the cloaca in order to pass that one and get the rest out still intact.
A problem that could occur from palpating the egg out could be that the female's tubes could possibly be twisted...so when you try to palpate it...it could tear everything up inside of her.

So all in all...I'd take her to a vet if you don't really know what you're doing....
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Luke Martin
Bronze Serpent Reptiles

I've never heard of a ball getting egg bound. I've experienced it with pits, corns, and hognose. This year I had female balls lay their eggs anywhere from 25-35 days after their shed. If your sure she is bound and not just late, a warm bath wouldn't hurt. If she doesn't drop them on her own after a warm bath. Give her a second warm bath, say 30 minutes, then try to massage the eggs down. If that doesn't work, it's time to try aspirating the first egg if you can see it. If that fails, either wait it out or take her to the vet. At this point I would not risk hurting her by trying anything more physical.