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What's your experience/risks.....with either method?
I am trying to decide which method I should choose for my Indigo who has laid one egg about week ago (see thread below about egg bound Indigo), and still hasn't laid the other two....So now it's getting to "crunch time"
I know Eric East has had success aspirating his females' eggs after having a similar episode.......Anyone else have success with either method?
Is one method riskier than the other, or is the risk the same?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE for any input/experience that you share!
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

C-section is more controlled but much more invasive than needle aspiration. After a c-section, I'd be very hesitant to breed the female again as scar tissue left from the operation may cause the snake to egg bind again. That's my opinion. Needle aspiration is less invasive and if it can be done under ultrasound guidance at a vet's office, it makes it less risky as you can guide the needle with the ultrasound to know exactly where it's going. I recently aspirated a large egg out of my mountain racer female. She passed that egg and two smaller ones behind it. I did not intend on breeding her again but I guess she retained sperm and gave me a clutch of four good eggs three months later. Also as you stated, aspirating the egg sooner than later is preferred. That's my opinion but I'm sure there are peeps on this forum who differ.

>>What's your experience/risks.....with either method?
>>I am trying to decide which method I should choose for my Indigo who has laid one egg about week ago (see thread below about egg bound Indigo), and still hasn't laid the other two....So now it's getting to "crunch time"
>>I know Eric East has had success aspirating his females' eggs after having a similar episode.......Anyone else have success with either method?
>>Is one method riskier than the other, or is the risk the same?
>>THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE for any input/experience that you share!
>>-----
>>"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

I have to admit I was a bit stressed out when I went through this and I was scared to aspirate but it really ended up being no big deal. The eggs were large enough to provide an unmistakeable target.
I had a friend hold her during the process to keep her from moving around and hurting herself. I used a sterile 18 guage (I think) needle and went through the belly, directly into the eggs and sucked out as much yolk as possible. For the most part she really didn't even react to it. There were a couple of times she flinched slightly but that was it. When we were done I treated the area with a triple anti-biotic cream.
Once the eggs were deflated she was able to pass most of them on her own. There was 1 or 2 that I had to assist her with buy gently massaging the eggs toward the vent.

I hope this helps!

Eric

if you're not experienced at it, i would caution you NOT to go directly ventral mid line (exact middle of the belly) as there are blood vessels there. i've seen alot of people do that without harm but i'm too jumpy to do it myself that way. go a bit lateral and flip the scale of course. but i think the most important part is to do it sooner than later when you can still aspirate out much of the yolk before it solidifies. if it doesn't cost too much let the vet do it under ultrasound guidance.

I had a female get egg bound this year as well. She was able to pass the eggs after being administered calcium and oxytocin, but my vet and I did talk about options if that didn't work. He seemed to be much more in favor of aspirating the eggs, but the thing he cautioned me about is that if yolk leaks out of the eggs once they are aspirated, the snake can develop an infection. If you do elect to aspirate the eggs, you might not want to manipulate them too much afterward since it could cause yolk to leak out of the punctured eggs.

Good luck.

Robert Harper
Ubiquitous Serpent