I need to get better at telling when these girls are gravid, because every time they lay it takes me by surprise. The girl I bred last year took so long I assumed she wasn’t going to lay at all. This girl went so quick I wasn’t expecting it for several more months. I didn’t even have a lay box in her tub yet.
Luckily most of the eggs are looking good. So far we have 12 fertile and 1 slug. She’s taking her time pushing the last one out though. How long should I wait before I start to worry?
It has been a few days and there’s still an egg stuck near the cloaca?
Take her up to a vet. You’ll lose the egg, probably, because I think the normal thing to do is pierce it, suck a bit of it out, and then remove it with tiny forceps.
Yeah, I wasn’t worried about the egg. I was worried about her. I helped her pass it tonight with a little probing and pushing. I don’t think it’ll go to term, but I’m glad we got it out.
This is an older pic. The one that’s second from the bottom left looked a little off to me, and it went bad a few days after this pic was taken. The other 11 are doing great though. I’ll post an update when I have time to take more pics.
All in all, not bad. This is a vast improvement over last year’s clutches.
I had no idea my axanthic male was het for albino. He was just sold as an axanthic. I’m beyond stoked as this increases my chance of producing snows. The albino anaconda is a keeper for sure.
And here they are all cleaned up. Well, most of them anyway. Two were taking their sweet time coming out of the eggs, so I ripped the last two eggs open.
…and it’s a good thing I did, because one came out with a bit of a deformity. I don’t think she would’ve made it out on her own.
This girl has no nose.
I decided to call her “Froggy”. In spite of the deformity, she’s doing well. She moves around and is quite active, she can see fine, and she doesn’t seem to be in any pain. She can even flick her tongue a bit.
So I’m gonna give her a week or two and hope she eats for me. Won’t let her starve to death if she doesn’t though. Her mouth is a bit smaller than most, but she can open and close it. I’m hoping she’ll pull through.
Gotta admit that the deformity is really cute and I hope she pulls through. I wonder if @stewart_reptiles has had this before in one of her hog babies? Hopefully she could give some good insight
Update: I gave them all their first meal on Saturday. Froggy didn’t eat, but neither did half of the others. I think I might try a pinky head next time since her mouth is smaller than most.
@meerkatlyndz I wonder about it too. I don’t think it’s a temperature issue. They were all incubated in the same box and the temp was steady. Nothing wrong with the parents or any of the other babies, so probably not genetic? I’m wondering if she was in one of the eggs the mother held in a little too long.
@rickg Wow, that is tiny. I suppose if she doesn’t take a pinky head I could try a tail. Or maybe I’ll try boiled eggs. Worked for one of my hatchlings last year.
@stewart_reptiles Thanks for chiming in. I wish someone had experience with an issue like this so I could ask them what to expect, but I guess we’ll just have to find out.
Quick update: So we’re had a few more feedings and now almost everyone is eating. I just have two holdouts. As you may have guessed, Froggy is one of them.
The other is a male albino anaconda that I’m calling Rodney. He like to hiss and strike at his pinkies. Froggy has mostly ignored hers. She peed on the first one and ran away from the second. She actually sniffed the last one, but made no attempt eat it. Not even a nibble.
I caught her taking a drink from her water bowl a few days ago though. I think that’s a good sign.
perhaps she can only eat smaller prey items for the time being because of the deformity? what if you tried something like a rat tail? I dont have any hognoses so i dont know if that is even a option but just thought id suggest that.
@7snakes at this point if you have not done so you may want to try to scent the pinky (I would suggest vienna sausage first, than tuna) and see if there is more interest, still does not mean with this type of deformity eating on it’s own is even a possibility but it is worth a shot.
@magic_mutations Tails can be used however it is usually mice tails and it’s really do to assist feed which is one of the most difficult thing to do on babies that size.
@nathan_e I did switch from a full pinky to pinky heads after the first meal. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference, though she did seem less scared of the f/t heads than the live one I tried first.
@stewart_reptiles Thanks for the tip! I’ll have to go pick up some vienna sausage from the store, but once I do I’ll definitely give it a try.
Update: Today was another feeding day. The good news is that Froggy tried to eat! And I didn’t even have to scent anything. I had her out for photos yesterday and while I was handling her she bit me. Today, after a bit of nudging, she bit the pinky a few times and then tried to take it down.
The bad news is that she couldn’t quite get it in. I left her to go at it for awhile, but came back to the pinky head still in the tub. So I think I will have to try mouse tails. She’s a bit stressed, so I’ll let her rest for a few days before offering one.
Now if only I could get Rodney to eat. I think I may have to scent something for him. I picked up some vienna sausage at the store today, so we’ll see how that goes next time.
That makes me wonder. Can Froggy even smell? The Jacobson’s organ is halfway between the nostrils and the brain with most snakes. With her snout gone all the way to her eyes, is it still there? She can flick her tongue a bit, but if the organ isn’t there then it won’t do anything for her.
Another thing I just thought of; hognose have rear fangs that they use to help walk the food into their throat right? If she doesn’t have those or any teeth/jaw structure necessary for that, then she may not be able to eat on her own. Just watch other hognose eat and they do this weird head squish thing to either side to eat. Idk how to describe it other than a head squish lol.
I’ve been wondering that myself. She does seem to respond to movement more than smell. That might be why she bit me while I was handling her and why she didn’t bite the pinky head until I nudged her with it.
She can definitely do the back and forth thing with her jaw though. I witnessed that tonight. I think she just wasn’t able to take the head because she bit into it from the side. Maybe if she’d gotten the nose into her mouth it would’ve gone down. I think giving her something smaller in diameter would help.
The way Froggy looks with her mouth open is kinda creepy ngl and yeah, she is edging towards the uncanny valley with some angles of her head. Looks more like a chibi from an anime in some angles. She has anime eyes lol.
and yeah, she is edging towards the uncanny valley with some angles of her head. Looks more like a chibi from an anime in some angles. She has anime eyes lol.