Female overdue/egg bound?

Hey, y’all. I’ll start with saying that I already have a vet visit scheduled for this female, so I’m just looking for some other opinions/suggestions in the meantime.

Some background: This is a virgin female, this is her first year breeding and she’s four years old, coming up on 5, according to her previous owner. I paired her starting in January and she had four locks with my proven breeder OD Firefly male. Back in late April/early Man, I palpated her and felt 8-9 good-size follicles, I’d guess around 35-38mm. She started refusing food on 5/13 and got very obvious swelling, but not enough that I’d call it an ovulation. She shed on 6/10 and I marked it down as a possible pre-lay shed, but then she went into shed again and shed 7/23, so I marked THAT down as her pre-lay shed. Since I had never seen an ovulation and she wasn’t quite as thick as I expected after being gravid a month, I palpated again in the middle of August. She felt completely empty aside from a swollen bulge right at the top 1/3 of her lower half. With palpation, I felt two large, round masses. Not hard like follicles, but bouncy like eggs, and easily 50mm+. These bulges have been there since what I marked as her pre-lay shed, and she’s still swollen just in that area, so I believe she only has two eggs to lay.

She is now, based on that pre-lay shed, approximately 23 days (give or take) over her projected lay date. She still has swelling where I’d expect for being gravid, and she has consistently refused food since May until last night, when she took a jumbo f/t mouse. She’s been out and moving around consistently for the last couple of weeks, but I’ve seen very little nesting behavior, aside from catching her a couple of times inverted like she was trying to position eggs. I’m 99.9% sure she is and has been gravid, so I guess my question is at what point do I start being worried about her being egg bound - and/or is there anything I can do at home to encourage her/help her to pass them or should I just leave her be? I’ve asked the vet to do an x-ray, just to verify that the bulge I’m feeling is indeed eggs and not some other large mass, but she’s passed normal bowel movements in the last couple of months, is acting completely normal and alert, and based on everything I know to track, she is gravid.

Thanks for any opinions!

Picture I got of her a couple of days ago.

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It sounds to me like she has resorbed. Are you able to get a pic from the side holding the animal by her front third and allowing the rest of her to hang down? I can potentially tell you if she is still holding

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I can get one, but I am 99.9% positive she is still holding and the bulges I feel are eggs. They’re easily 50mm+ and have not changed in size at all in the last two months, and she still has what looks like post-ovulation gravid swelling. It’s my understanding they can’t reabsorb once they have ovulated, or am I wrong?

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Picture I was able to get a few minutes ago. Still a very obvious bulge (and keep in mind the jumbo mouse she ate is very small compared to her body diameter, this is a 1600g female and that was her first meal in three months).

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And here’s another I was able to get from above. The swelling where those two eggs are is noticeable.

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You are not wrong, but I have known quite a few people that have mistaken a pre-swell for an actual ovulation event and they can resorb from the pre-swell

That said, yeah, it does look like she is still holding. What are your temps?

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I’ve had snakes go 55+ days post ovulation shed and still lay viable eggs.

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Ambient temp in my snake room is about 80, so that’s the cool side temp. Thermostat maintains hot spot heat tape right at 89 inside the bin. Humidity around 75%.

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Hrmmmm… Have you seen her ridge-back?

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You mean the way the spine tends to protrude with gravid females? I have, it’s not particularly pronounced but it’s definitely there. She’s carrying the weight lower as all my other females have.

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This is good to know, and I’m hoping it’s the case. She seems alert, healthy, etc. I just don’t want to be assuming things are fine if they’re not. :sweat_smile:

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I know the feeling. Both times it’s happened I got some grey hair over it :joy:

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At the vet currently, they’re going to do an ultrasound to confirm she is indeed gravid. I’ll let y’all know what the vet says. It’s a vet school that includes a zoo med program, so I’ve had pretty good experiences here before.

It would be nice to have my own ultrasound to confirm at home, but that’s not in my graduate student budget. :weary:

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Okay! Vet visit done. Vet did an ultrasound and confirmed that she is indeed gravid - two eggs, just like I thought. Vet said she didn’t notice any interior lesions or blockages that would lead her to believe she can’t pass them on her own. Vet also said that based on the ultrasound the eggs look nonviable (if that’s the case, that’s a bummer. Not sure how she went from 8-9 follicles and multiple locks with a proven male to two slugs) but I’m just going to continue watching her and be pleasantly surprised if they’re not slugs.

Vet also recommended a once daily soak in warm water (85-89 degrees) just to make sure she’s as hydrated as possible? I’m not sure how a soak may affect the eggs if that’s a worry, but if they’re nonviable anyway I’d much rather just ensure the female’s health.

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Soak should not have any impact on the eggs

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Okay, great. I’ll plan to do that then, and just continue watching for any signs that something is wrong.

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Yeah be careful with her for sure. Our egg-bound corn snake was saved by our favorite vet but another vet who saw her only said to give it some time and she ended up with a prolapse and nearly passed. If she has trouble or looks weak or looks ill in any way get her back asap to have the eggs pushed/removed. Good luck and I hope she is healthy and passes them with no issues for her! Good vibes!!

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Hope this works out for you. Had a big 3k gram fire girl 10 egger that laid 7 this season and had 3 stuck. Tried everything except surgery and turkey baster sucking eggs, got 1 out but other 2 never moved and lost her 1 night last week.

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my experience with these issues is less is best. light massage and baths have worked for me. eggs stuck at the vent is when I will use a more aggressive approach.

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I’m trying not to stress her as much as possible. We’re doing daily soaks in lukewarm water and aside from that, I’m leaving her alone. Luckily these haven’t descended to the cloaca yet, so I’m hoping she’s just hanging onto them.

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