I’m not a first time breeder and certainly didn’t start during Covid.
I have a ball python (normal) that I produced in 2017 from a (reportedly Graziani) pastel+normal pairing. I decided to breed her last winter. (i.e. Winter 2023) with a het clown. She’s a virgin since I wanted to get her up to weight first. She is not line bred at all as far as I know.
She’s always been a good eater, etc.
I’ve been keeping an eye on her, but she’s not been doing normal behaviors for a gravid female. (Laying inverted, etc)
I was busy for two days, but still checked on her. The third day when I was down and out, that’s when she laid 2 bad eggs–i.e. they looked good, but they didn’t have any life in them and soon rotted, so she kicked them out, but it feels like she retained 3 more eggs in her. She’s still glowing like she knows they are in her and moving around like she knows, (She’s out of her hide which is unusual for her) but still hasn’t laid them.
It’s been super, super hot lately, so the moisture I put into her cage has been taken out. I had to remedy that again.
I gave her a warm bath, rechecked her heat pad, cocofiber chips that are moist, moved down the eggs in her ovoduct (feels like 3-ish), but she hasn’t laid them yet. It’s been 24 hours since she laid her last (rotten ones). When should I worry about her being egg bound and bring her to a vet?
Is it possible for a snake to eject 2 bad eggs and then retain 3 good ones or should I see a vet immediately?
There was a point where I thought she would go, early last month, but she flattened out and didn’t shed again. (I checked her box to be very sure–I cleaned it yesterday.) Then became paunchy and glowed again.
^^;; I kinda feel like this is my fault since it’s been really hot and the moisture I put in on Saturday was gone by Monday, which then I tried to renew, but probably wasn’t enough. I was extremely busy Monday-Wednesday. She must have laid Wednesday night from the egg condition and post lay poop.
I can post pictures, but she’s pretty miserable at all of my handling thus far. She’s usually squirmy, but isn’t when she’s gravid.
I called the vet, but they are backed up, so I’m on a waiting list.
BTW, never happened to me before and I’ve handled a ton of clutches. Snake is healthy otherwise.
I believe posting the image of the dead eggs would break rules, so you’ll have to take my word for it. (They were rotting and gross—I still tried to candle them and nothing).
She’s pinching her tail like that. The eggs are free moving in her up to her vent. Her name is Aphrodite, after the Goddess of Love and Beauty. To me, she’s beautiful for a normal. She has flames, and yellow fade (which doesn’t show up against the green background), etc.
TT I hope she’s OK.
BTW, she has a water bowl large enough that she can soak in if need be, which I also always provide, especially during summer.
The other eggs were massive for a snake her size. (She was way over the minimum weight for breeding before I bred her). Large rat size. The type of size eggs snake discovery usually says doesn’t hatch.
No, that’s not an egg, that’s leading to the vent, but I don’t feel anything there. I push them up to the vent, but then she pushes them back to the middle of her body. I’m very sure there are three left. They feel intact. She’s still heat seeking and looking for moisture. I’m bathing her and she likes it (which is unlike her). She is not bleeding, but her breathing isn’t regular. It’s not the long slow breaths, it’s the short panting breaths.
The vet office called and said that if I call in the morning, I should be near to first in line. So I’m going to do that.
I’m feeling rather anxious. Her sire passed away, so to me, she’s very precious. I sold all of her full blooded siblings.
When she’s not glowing, BTW, she’s more of a sable color. But she currently (without the green background) still looks very yellow.
She’s not very happy. Hopefully the vet can help her. I think she developed eggs too big for her body.
This story unfortunately has a sad ending. Her oviduct was wrapped around an egg which was why she couldn’t push it out, but that also meant the other eggs which were ginormous for her size couldn’t be pushed out and there wasn’t a guarantee that the oviduct wasn’t twisted elsewhere. The vet said there was a low chance that if she did the least invasive surgery that further complications might not also arise.
So I was faced with a surgery, where she would suffer and might die, or face another surgery, which was really high in price and then also suffer and might also die. Faced with either my own wish to keep her until she passed and suffer for my hubris or if she should have the chance to pass peacefully, I chose that she should pass peacefully.
I’m super heart broken. I raised her from an egg, watched her grow, selected her out of her litter mates after her sire passed, was super careful about her breeding even asked who she wanted as a mate as a joke. But now just like that she is gone. She was at least an overachiever to the end.
What I learned from this experience… maybe might help someone else in this position:
If the vet doesn’t think it’s an emergency after 48 hours, then you need to find a different vet ASAP. The risk for oviducts binding to eggs and oviducts twisting goes up after 48 hours.
If the vet says your snake is skittish in this situation, reconsider. It probably means there is someone who doesn’t know how to handle snakes. A good ball python will reflect the situation it is in and the people around it.
Make sure the vet has given the snake a finger examination of the snake’s vent before they charge you anything. If the vet isn’t comfortable doing it while the snake is awake FIND A DIFFERENT VET ASAP. They do not know how to handle snakes. !@#$ I can do it on my ball pythons with the right clean environment. They won’t bite cause I’m not afraid of them and I build up trust with my energy.
If the vet is talking about how “alert” the snake “looks” as a way to delay care FIND A DIFFERENT VET. The time stamps should send alarm bells that it’s an emergency.
Push the vet to do x-rays and/or sonogram next. The vet I worked with wanted to delay this as much as possible, but no, that’s not good. That should be second to the finger exam and done right away to know if the snake is bleeding out, especially with large eggs.
Anything in the 24 hour and less window, that’s when you talk about oxytocin, but only after a vent exam. Anything after 24 hours, that’s when you talk about aspirating the eggs and ovocentesis. This could save the life of your snake.
After 48 hours, you’re looking at surgery and higher chance of infection rate.
I did research while I was waiting and getting frustrated with the vet. Ovocentesis should take about an hour or two max. I saw someone do it in about 20 minutes on Youtube.
A few additional notes:
Snakes and all reptiles are exceptionally good at hiding their suffering and symptoms. This is not an excuse to delay their care as their keeper or for the vet to.
I read there is a loose idea that if you exercise your snakes regularly, give them a large cage they are less likely to have egg binding issues. (I did exercise her prior to her coupling, though and a few times before she was gravid.)
Age of the snake matters (though in my case she was perfectly fine a 8 years old.)
Make sure your snakes are over the weight minimum. I was unlucky in this regard because she produced gigantic eggs for her size though she was well over the weight minimum. But small snakes are more likely to get egg bound.
This is what I learned. If she spits out 2 eggs and others don’t follow in succession like mine did, vet IMMEDIATELY.
I hope this helps someone out there so their precious snake doesn’t die like mine did. I could not find this information. So I’m hoping this will help in the future. I think if I had acted faster, maybe, slim chance she might have lived, though never been a breeder, but my precious pet to live another 30-40 years with.
