Joni Garcia
Gotta love 'em!
As many of you know, I don't get around to posting pictures very often. Too bad it takes something like this for me to get my butt in gear.
My favorite girl, Zahra died last night. She was a beautiful Anery Stripe het Bloodred with a wonderful attitude.
All my other females have laid their eggs in 12 hours or less. Zahra started laying her eggs Saturday night. She'd only laid 4 eggs in 18 hours. I knew she was having trouble, but decided to proceed with the "benign neglet, wait and see" method. She was in a quiet area with a towel over her tub. The family even got the "no running around, slamming doors, or doing anything that might disturb her" lecture.
Yesterday, I changed my plans and decided to encircle and loosen the egg closest to her vent, then aspirate if needed. A cornsnake friend who lives nearby was going to stop by, see my girl, and assist in holding her etc as needed.
I got things ready, then opened Zahra's tub and could tell that something was very wrong. I picked up her almost lifeless body. She moved her head, took her last breath, and died in my hands within the next minute or so. Within a couple minutes, my friend arrived. I told her Zahra'd died and she helped take care of the eggs as I removed them.
There were 14 eggs, but none of them look good. Of course, I put them in the incubator anyways. I did notice that the one closest to her vent had the "sandpaper" feel of a good egg on the very end of it only.
Unfortunately, I don't know if any of the four eggs she laid will make it. It appears that two, maybe three are trying to develop a network of veins, but a very weak network compared to another clutch that was laid on Saturday.
When I removed her eggs, the oviduct membrane was "shrink-wrapped" around each egg. Since this procedure was a first for me, maybe Hurley or somebody can answer my question... Does this naturally happen after a snake dies? Or is it because the oviduct was twisted?
I remember reading Cheryl's eggbound Easter post, and feeling so sad for her and the beautiful Butter girl. Well, I guess Murphy hadn't left California yet and decided to stop by here. He'd already been here once to take a couple of my most anticipated clutches! Now he got my special project girl. I think he's done enough damage in California between Carol, Cheryl, and I. Maybe he can take a vacation now.
You might think this is an awful thing to say, as I don't wish this on any of my snakes... but, why did this happen to my favorite girl? I'd even bought a special Hypo Bloodred boy just for her. All the other females did just fine. I guess Murphy wanted to do a good job breaking me in as a first year breeder. Well, he did a good job!
Lastly, I want to thank those of you who I talked to and who've helped me with Zahra's situation the past couple days. You know who you are... and my deepest gratitude goes to you for all your concern, advice and help.
My favorite girl, Zahra died last night. She was a beautiful Anery Stripe het Bloodred with a wonderful attitude.
All my other females have laid their eggs in 12 hours or less. Zahra started laying her eggs Saturday night. She'd only laid 4 eggs in 18 hours. I knew she was having trouble, but decided to proceed with the "benign neglet, wait and see" method. She was in a quiet area with a towel over her tub. The family even got the "no running around, slamming doors, or doing anything that might disturb her" lecture.
Yesterday, I changed my plans and decided to encircle and loosen the egg closest to her vent, then aspirate if needed. A cornsnake friend who lives nearby was going to stop by, see my girl, and assist in holding her etc as needed.
I got things ready, then opened Zahra's tub and could tell that something was very wrong. I picked up her almost lifeless body. She moved her head, took her last breath, and died in my hands within the next minute or so. Within a couple minutes, my friend arrived. I told her Zahra'd died and she helped take care of the eggs as I removed them.
There were 14 eggs, but none of them look good. Of course, I put them in the incubator anyways. I did notice that the one closest to her vent had the "sandpaper" feel of a good egg on the very end of it only.
Unfortunately, I don't know if any of the four eggs she laid will make it. It appears that two, maybe three are trying to develop a network of veins, but a very weak network compared to another clutch that was laid on Saturday.
When I removed her eggs, the oviduct membrane was "shrink-wrapped" around each egg. Since this procedure was a first for me, maybe Hurley or somebody can answer my question... Does this naturally happen after a snake dies? Or is it because the oviduct was twisted?
I remember reading Cheryl's eggbound Easter post, and feeling so sad for her and the beautiful Butter girl. Well, I guess Murphy hadn't left California yet and decided to stop by here. He'd already been here once to take a couple of my most anticipated clutches! Now he got my special project girl. I think he's done enough damage in California between Carol, Cheryl, and I. Maybe he can take a vacation now.
You might think this is an awful thing to say, as I don't wish this on any of my snakes... but, why did this happen to my favorite girl? I'd even bought a special Hypo Bloodred boy just for her. All the other females did just fine. I guess Murphy wanted to do a good job breaking me in as a first year breeder. Well, he did a good job!
Lastly, I want to thank those of you who I talked to and who've helped me with Zahra's situation the past couple days. You know who you are... and my deepest gratitude goes to you for all your concern, advice and help.
