Egg bound

I lost a hypo lav het stripe this year to being egg bound and now I have a hypo het plasma eggbound.. what did I do? How can I help her? I have an egg box in with her, she shed, got the bulge, but went into a second shed and now is noticably in distress...
Any help? I don't want to lose her too.....
Thanks, Dan

Stop breeding at the minimum size. Wait til they're 380 grams or more. Wait until they can successfully pass weanling rats 30+ times.

If it has not been more then 14 days since her last shed, she may still lay her eggs. Make sure the moss in the lay box is not too wet. Wring out the excess moisture as much as possible.

If it has been more than 15 days since her last shed, then:

You might be able to gently massage the eggs out of her, one at a time.
Over the course of a few days, not all at once.
One egg at a time, starting with the one closest to her vent.
Do not be in a rush, it takes a lot of time and too much pressure can damage her insides or cause skeletal disorders.

How did you lose the first one? Just leaving a female to eventually pass the eggs can work (see below)
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50824&highlight=tincture
Some people do aspirate the eggs, get the snake to swim or get a vet to intervene with surgery. Injections such as oxytocin don't really seem approriate in my personal opinion, as the muscles affected are used by mammals, whereas for a snake the eggs are helped along mainly by movement, so perhaps getting the female to slither down a set of stairs would help.
(Edited to add, I panicked the frst time I had a female egg bound and delayed her passing the eggs by interfering with her too much, so I now just watch and wait and make sure my breeding gals are fit and lean rather than trying to pack weight on them)

dave partington said:

Stop breeding at the minimum size. Wait til they're 380 grams or more. Wait until they can successfully pass weanling rats 30+ times.

If it has not been more then 14 days since her last shed, she may still lay her eggs. Make sure the moss in the lay box is not too wet. Wring out the excess moisture as much as possible.

If it has been more than 15 days since her last shed, then:

You might be able to gently massage the eggs out of her, one at a time.
Over the course of a few days, not all at once.
One egg at a time, starting with the one closest to her vent.
Do not be in a rush, it takes a lot of time and too much pressure can damage her insides or cause skeletal disorders.

Click to expand...

The hypo lav female was proven 3 years in a row. She was 6 years old. This hypo het Plasma is 3 years old, 37" Much bigger than my thumb and eats large mice,But... First time breeding. I never breed at the 30" mark like some do.
It has been 7 days since her second shed, Spaghnum moss is slightly damp. I thought about using a hypodermic needle to draw out the egg and make them smaller. So.. you'd all wait another 8 days?
Thanks!

That's stressful! Our 3 yr old snow has never been bred, but has decided it's 'time' and laid 7 slugs so far, I keep watching her praying she doesn't get egg bound. Good luck!

I had a five year old candy cane female egg bound this year wouldn't pass two eggs. Luckily I have access to 10cc syringes and a 21 gauge needles and was able to aspirate the eggs and she passed them with no problem.
Its as easy as this video and the snake doesn't go wild which I thought was odd of coarse I have lots of biology knowledge and I feel comfortable doing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1LSTteRK4c

If it was me she would get a gentle squirt of ky-gelly or just a little mineral oil, in the vent VERY SLOWLY, to see if it helps. (some ppl swear by this others say its bull. I figure it cant hurt.) luke warm baths and gentle massages can help with labor. after that 14-15 day mark I would aspirate the first egg. After the first they are usuely smaller, she should pass the deflated one and go on normally. if not in a day or so aspirate the second. If you feel like you have to do the whole clutch I would consult a vet.

Are you feeling large while they are Gravid? Most of the time its better to give them a few small rodents instead of their normal size, their body is basically one giant tube. the bowels being to full can clog up the only space and make it harder for the eggs to pass. Even if she has refused to eat the last week. Breeding too small can cause bounding but its not always the problem. there are other factors including nutrition, body weight and just bad luck. In the wild there is a high mortality rate for females. They don't wait to measure or weigh themselves to get gravid. They find a boy and that's the whole story lol. (not saying you should breed small. I like my girls around 400 grams before I breed them.) As long as the eggs are not calcified you can aspirate the eggs as you see necessary. IF the harden they will have to be removed surgery, better to loose the clutch then the female.

Best wished to you with it. And I'm sorry to hear you lost one female already. Its never easy loosing one. No matter how many you have, they are still members of the family and it is difficult when they pass.

Feeding, Not feeling... lol stupid typos

as long as she dont smell fishy she is still ok ,,, i have a girl who just passed16 eggs over 1 week and had some remainig in her and i thought it was two i used the little and often feed method which can take upto 14 days but she started smelling like fish which meant nacrotic eggs and infection, took her to be aspirated but eggs had gone hard, so i took her to vet who put her to sleep and pushed out 6 eggs with lots of gunk then pushed out a hatched one yes one had hatched inside her it was fullgrown but coiled and then they pushed out another egg and lots of necrotic fluid,,,,she had a week of antibiotics and touch wood she is going to be fine,,,,,hope this helps a little x x x x

You can also try with one of the probing kit probes and gently use that to circle around the eggs. You need a lot of KY jelly and patience.

We have aspirated 4 eggs so far. She has passed 7, still has 8 more HUGE eggs inside her. I am wondering.. probably not, but she was a twin, her mother threw at least 2 sets of twins every clutch, and these eggs are huge..

good luck with that hope she is ok x x

I had a girl pass the last egg 6 weeks after laying about a week ago, it had started to petrify but was still soft enough to pinch together, like rubber. It did stink though. I have just massaged it a bit and gently pushed it up and down a bit with my thumb to loosen it every couple of days. It was about 9 inch from her vent, came down to an inch above her vent and came out a few days later. I would not dare to try to massage such an egg aout all the way, too much force needed and the lining of the tubes is very, very thin and vulnerable.

Good luck...

i like how the topic is very open conclussioned, ppl have so many different ways to help egg binding i like snakes around had a similar problem but a vet manually pushed 8 and a baby corn out of my fem who was egg bound this was last month, all eggs gone but she had a clutch of 25 including a ...the first 16 she got out and b...the baby that had hatched inside her. she was very nectrotic after two weeks so guys please try to be fast acting with egg binding i almost lost my girl,,,
but on the up hand i have a second snake who went through bromation and 3 days ago popped out 24 eggs and ok atm 16 look good other 8 well have to see. i believe after my too experiences that its all in the brumation and the way u nest box them .....good luck to all, keep you all posted about new eggs x x x

I ened up aspirating 6 eggs, she passed a total of 18, none good. NOW.. danged if she ain't egg bound again! and I didn't double bred her. She is double clutching on her own... here we go again..
PS.. she is still eating like a champ... but.... You can see the bulges in her and she just shed.. dang... Eggs are way up inside, not even close to the vent.....

So- how do you know she's egg bound? What if she just isn't ready to lay yet?

She may just not be ready to lay yet. Leave her be and don't handle her at all for at least a week to ten days.

She has shed 17 days ago.. and she has 3 huge bulges in her. Still eating like crazy. Thought it was good for her to have energy. She is pooping ok.. but the bulges are unmistakeable... and nowhere close to the vent... again....

I've had second clutches, with bumps I could easily feel, reabsorb. I would give her a lay box and leave her strictly alone.