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When To Worry?

Fuzzoodle

Fuzzoodle

New member
Hey all,
Still relatively new to this forum! I have a bunch of corn snakes and have been breeding for a few years. This year's been terrible! First two clutches of the year were slugs, but that's not got me bothered.

On Monday my normal female dropped 3 slugs.
Between Tuesday-Thursday she dropped 7 eggs (not sure if slugs or not), average size if a little big.
Checked on her on Friday and she had two lumps in her about 8in from her vent.
Saturday we removed her laybox and found another egg buried in the moss that she'd pushed all to one side, don't know if that was one of the lumps, or if it was an egg laid previously that we didn't notice.
Tonight I ran her through my fingers again, only one lump now, but still a good 8in away from the vent.

Also kind of worried because she is an obese snake (we just got her about a month ago, she came obese and gravid). She has pretty bad hips, but she did seem to slim down quite a bit after passing the eggs.

I've heard baths can be good for them, but have also been told to not stress the female out! Should I leave her alone, or bathe her, let her keep the lay box or take it away and maybe the exercise from cruising her bin will help move it along? Is it possible she absorbed the second egg (lump) and she'll absorb the other one too? Would a meal help, am I just over worrying? What can be done with it so far up?

Any advice at all is muchly appreciated! Thanks!
 
It sounds like it is time to go and see a vet.

An obese snake shouldn't be bred for exactly this reason: they have trouble getting out eggs and can become egg-bound.

I would expect to spend about $300 to save her.

Bathing may help.
DO NOT feed her.
Leave the lay box.

Without a vet, I wouldn't give her a good chance of making it. The retained eggs quickly cause infection which will eventually kill her.
 
I Agree with the Above Poster 100% ! But...If I might.... In Hours, How long between feeling 2 lumps and then just the 1 lump.... If it's been more than 48 hrs with no visible movement of the egg or either egg, it's time to intervene. Much past 48hrs the egg will begin to die,harden,and cause the aforementioned infection. The process of the egg hardening may take several days...but the longer you wait past the initial 48hrs,the worse the outcome may be. You might ask the vet if Aspiration of the egg is a possibility? Might be a Little high up to try that. Best of luck to you and your Snake. Please keep us posted on her progress.
 
Thanks for the advice and sorry for not getting back to this thread until now! Unfortunately I don't know of any reptile vets locally and can't travel, but the situation seems to be righting itself.

We've given the lady a few baths and left her laybox in. Checked her every few days and what not. A few days ago there was a HUGE poop in her bin, and the egg lump seemed to have moved down some.
Today there was a slug sitting on top of her laybox! There's still another lump (so I was wrong about the second lump disappearing) but it's only 3-4 inches from her vent. The slug was wrinkly and soft, so hopefully she can pass the other one.
Gave her a small meal in hopes if another poop moving things along.

Really got my fingers crossed for her making it. If she does she's being retired from breeding and will be a pet only.
Attached a picture of the slug I found today.
 

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I've seen several snakes over the years that have retained an egg or two and over time they pass them without any intervention. Infertile eggs, though smaller than good eggs are slimy and I think may be harder to pass than the rough-surfaced good eggs.

I've found that if you offer the snake a small meal and it eats, that seems to provide the energy boost it needs to pass its last egg. I really wouldn't worry about it too much. It's a different story when a gravid snake cannot pass any of its eggs - but if there's only one still in the snake, chances are that she'll drop it over time.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience, it makes me worry a little less. She took her small meal with gusto and won't be disturbed aside from sneaky check ins for the next while :)
 
Just thought I'd update everyone on her! Yesterday we found two slimy slugs in her bin, and today one more. She's freshly shed and beautiful and I THINK she's empty!! I can't feel any more bumps in her. I'm glad the "leave her alone" method worked out for us.
 
Good to hear. I've only had one retained egg so far, knock on wood! It passed days later without intervention. It was a slug; the female had never been bred. She has been bred and laid three times without further problems.
 
Another slug today... So either she had more than I thought or she's double clutching? Either way, she's passing them without much difficulty, they're small little things. About half the size of the big hard slug she passed earlier (pic above)
 
I'm not worried at all. She's not in any distress and I'm content to let her go about dropping them at her own pace. She still eats fine, poops normally and just shed a few days ago.
Here's a quick pic of her pretty self taken today.
IMG-20120625-00965.jpg
 
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