ghosthousecorns
Well-known member
Every year it seems there are a few posts where people worry because their snake takes a while to lay the clutch or there is one or two eggs retained. The advice given is often to take the snake to the vet (good advice IF the vet is experienced with snakes, otherwise they may give an unnecessary injection, perform a surgery or do something that puts the snake at further risk) to stick a needle in the snake and aspirate the egg contents, to make the snake swim, etc.
Much less often is this is the advice given : Leave the snake alone!
Rich Z has coined the phrase "Benign Neglect". It simply means letting them do their thing without interfering.
I just had a snake that laid her clutch on the 19th of May lay one last egg this morning. I knew she was retaining one, so I did gently massage it toward the vent area when I first noticed it, then I let her be. I fed her and checked up on her once daily. She didn't want to eat at first, until I had some newborn pinkies which she accepted. I think she was just weak from laying the clutch so it took her a while to get around to the last egg.
If you don't breed a snake too young and she has decent muscle tone there is a lot to be said for simply letting nature take its course. I just haven't seen this get said enough, if you keep disturbing your female by constantly checking her because you are worried you can disrupt the egg laying process by stressing her and that's when the complications occur.
Much less often is this is the advice given : Leave the snake alone!
Rich Z has coined the phrase "Benign Neglect". It simply means letting them do their thing without interfering.
I just had a snake that laid her clutch on the 19th of May lay one last egg this morning. I knew she was retaining one, so I did gently massage it toward the vent area when I first noticed it, then I let her be. I fed her and checked up on her once daily. She didn't want to eat at first, until I had some newborn pinkies which she accepted. I think she was just weak from laying the clutch so it took her a while to get around to the last egg.
If you don't breed a snake too young and she has decent muscle tone there is a lot to be said for simply letting nature take its course. I just haven't seen this get said enough, if you keep disturbing your female by constantly checking her because you are worried you can disrupt the egg laying process by stressing her and that's when the complications occur.
