Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I posted a few weeks ago in regards to my first case of egg binding. One of my female caliking's had 4 eggs remaining in her. About 2 weeks after she laid, 3 of the eggs moved into the lower half of her body. She tried to pass them late one night, but after hours of it being stuck in her vent, and her clearly being exhausted, I ended up gently palpating them out.(Vet was not an option at that time, and she didn't look like she would have made it otherwise)She is her usual self now, still feeding like a champ, and regaining her normal weight. BUT there is still one egg left, and it is high up, has yet to move down. My concern is it growing solid and causing an infection. Should I take her in and have it aspirated? Or should I just continue to leave it alone?(I figured it would have moved down by now like the others,but it appears smaller, possible a slug) She is otherwise fine and does not appear bothered by it, and I would rather leave it like like previously suggested, but just want to be sure and get some experienced opinions on it

Since you now have experience palpitating eggs out only you will know the right choice for that. There are several factors:

Like how exhausted is the female?

How well do you trust your abilities to finish palpitating that last eggs out? (tenacity on your part)

Or you can just wait a while and see if she eats and gets some strength.

Also , how do you know she is infected? what makes you think she will be?

Have you tried moving the eggs down a bit?

Only you can know the answers to these questions as you have the snake and can see and feel it.

IMO taking it to a vet is only a good idea if the vet has experience keeping colubrids and is well versed in eggs bound colubrids. Other will just refer to their manual in the back in what to do.. Most vets will want to cut. Better ones will use a high pressure spry and they know what they are doing. It all comes down to if the vet has lots of experience and is a true reptile vet and not just an advertised "exotic" animal specialist.

The problem with yours seems that it is stuck in the upper half of the body and not in the lower. So maybe FR will chime in on this and give a shout of advice. He knows the anatomy and has more experience.

Have you tried to palptate it down lower yet? Or is it really stuck?
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

Thanks Rainer. I agree with Bluerosy, but I am not a fan of palpating stuck eggs. What happens is they adhere to the oviduct thru scare tissue. You can tear that and its not so good.

If she is doing fine, eating passing food and such. Then you can wait until the next go around. The stuck slug(that's what is sounds like) are often absorbed when the new follicles develop. That's a good thing. I am seeing that now with a Rosy. I found her with rock hard, angular ovum. They simply disappeared, when she cycled again.

I have also seen that with L.thayeri. She was gifted to me, and full of rock hard ovum. The next spring, she laid a perfect clutch and the rocks were gone.
I believe the danger is when a egg is stuck at the vent. That has a high fatality rate. Your past that, so feed her up. If she starts to express problems, then off to the vet(if that's your choice) I wish you all the luck

From reading you original post agin it seems you have not attempted to palpitate the eggs further down the body.. try that.

Keep the pressure with your middle 3 fingers from below the snake belly and cause a constant pressure.. it may move slowly (like an inch a minute) once you get it moving it may want to stop again before the vent.

If you can move it down the vent we will at least know it is moving.
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

Thanks Bluerosy! I did attempt to move it, but with no luck. I don't want to get overconfident having had success with the first eggs, so I guess I'm just being cautious. As you said, most vets will cut, and I would rather not go that route if there are other less invasive ways. Also, many of the vets in my area have little experience with snakes unfortunately, as there are not many breeders around. She is healthy with no signs of infection, I just am nervous about one coming up, and want to prevent it.

Sadly I need to mention this. Its best to prevent any damage to the oviducts and it forms scares and complicates each successive cycle. Normally, you get aprox three more clutches before it becomes fatal. This is when they are not absorbed. Kingsnakes are super tuff. Again, best wishes

Thanks FR! That's what I was hoping, just because I would rather not palpate again, it was very stressful, to say the least! The snake was calm and didn't flinch or try and bite. If anything cooperative. I will palpate if the egg moves down like the other ones but I agree, I think it is a slug, and I will leave it alone unless something happens. Thanks for the great advice and examples!

Thanks again for the advice, the last egg moved down on its own(took its sweet time), and I was able to palpate it out with out any problems. She ate shortly after, and is active and recovering. As much as the whole experience was a stressfull nightmare, I am glad it worked out, and also glad for the learning experience at any rate.