Just figured I’d post an update. As of today she’s 38 days overdue (based more or less on that original pre-lay shed I noted) and she’s… going into shed. She looked a little dull in her soak yesterday and today her eyes are starting to turn milky blue. So I truly have no idea what she’s doing, but she’s still holding and still seems healthy.
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Okay, take my concern with a grain of salt since I don’t deal with ball pythons, but this sounds very similar to a situation that I had with one of my female corns who ended up needing to be spayed. She seemed fine, on track to lay, it was her going over two weeks past the second “pre-lay shed” that I brought her in. Your vet saying the eggs were non-viable on ultrasound sticks out to me, since stuck eggs tend to go bad.
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Had a female do this and the second shed was actually her prepay shed. She then laid a 12 egg clutch roughly 30 days after. Likely this one will be the prelay and the first shed was just because she was out of room in her current skin.
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I’m thinking (and hoping) that this might be the case now too. She shed one more time 13 days ago and I can still see the noticeable bulging in her lower half of the two eggs. I’m still soaking every couple of days and she took a small rat again last night, which I’ve continued offering just since it’s been a much longer period than she would have had with a “regular” schedule. I’m hoping everything is fine, but as of the moment she is still acting alert and healthy.
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Jumping back in here, was this her first time eating again? I know I only deal with corns, but this was what finally spurred me to bring my egg-bound girl in. She never laid anything, never was distressed, but she suddenly started eating again after being off food for months. You have to remember, snakes can and will hide ailments, even egg binding, acting normally until their body is overwhelmed and they just pass.
This is her third meal since she started eating again while gravid. She went off food originally in May, I noted what I thought was her prelay shed (the one that gave me the original date that I based her # of days overdue on) and then took food again on 9/13, 9/22, and 10/14. I took her to the vet on 9/16 (at that point she was about a month overdue) and the vet did a full physical exam, palpation, and an ultrasound. She said she didn’t see anything on the ultrasound to indicate she wouldn’t be able to pass the eggs on her own, so she advised me to soak and to bring her back in mid-late November if she still hadn’t laid. I’ve been offering her small meals (jumbo mouse or fuzzy rat) and she’s had normal bowel movements as well. I check on her twice a day currently and soak her every other day, but I have now spoken to a couple of BP people who said they’ve had females go 60+ days past the post-ov/pre-lay shed. So at this point I’m just doing my best to monitor.
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It’s been over a month since the first vet visit and still no eggs here. She’s still acting perfectly fine, alert, hydrated, normal bowel movements since she’s been eating. But I’m just very concerned since at this point she’s very, very overdue. I’m going to call the vet again now since they probably won’t be able to get us in for a few days anyway. The eggs haven’t migrated down any closer to her tail, so I guess I’m just unsure if I should intervene and push for a surgical removal or if I should just keep waiting.
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Follow your gut, is my advice. The vet should be able to help advise you on where to go from here, whether she’s still looking good and to keep waiting, or move onto some other method. I know that despite not having real indication it does much, some vets will give oxytocin and wait a while to see if it stimulates the female to lay.
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Any updates yet?
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Still no eggs, now at 25 days past that second post-ovulation shed. Earliest available appointment was for November 8, so that’s when we’re booked.
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Bit of a disappointing update. Apparently the vet’s office had a sudden change in staffing and called needing to reschedule our appointment. The next available date was November 22, almost a month away from now. She still seems to be doing fine. I guess I’ll just continue her soaks and minimal handling in the meantime, and hope that all remains well.
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Goodness, I am so sorry, that’s super frustrating. Do they not have emergency appointments? I know some do and some don’t, my local herp vet has a set number per day that you have to call in right away in the morning to get.
Who knows, maybe the delay will end up a blessing in disguise and she’ll let go of those eggs before the appointment date. Sending all the positive vibes to you both, I know exactly how stressful this situation is. Sounds like you’ve got a strong girl, so try not to worry too much. They can handle a lot more than we think.
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So long as the animal is not exhibiting signs of distress I would not worry about it. I have multiple fellow keepers that have had females abort laying and up to a year later will pop out the duds with no ill effects.
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Thanks for the reassurance. I guess my biggest fear is just that I’ll wake up one day and she’s passed, but I’m not sure at this point what if anything I can do to prevent that anyway. She’s healthy and active, so I will just cross my fingers that everything is fine and she’s just taking me for a loop.
I was going to ask if y’all think I should keep feeding her since she is taking food? I’ve only been offering her small meals about every two weeks because I haven’t wanted to give her body anything else to do, but if she’s going to keep holding onto these eggs, I don’t by any means want to be keeping additional nutrition from her.
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I don’t see any reason to withhold food whatsoever. Feed her as you would.
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I’m sorry you are stuck in an uncomfortable holding pattern as you await a vet appointment. The good news is that your girl is continuing to behave normally, acting as though she feels okay. That’s a very hopeful sign. I would continue offering her small food items at regular intervals as you’ve been doing. It sounds to me like you’re doing all the right things. They are resilient creatures by design. Your girl is giving you worry now, but hopefully soon she’ll turn that around and you’ll have a big sigh of relief. We are all pulling for you both.
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Just a quick update. We had to reschedule our vet appointment again, which is hopefully happening later this coming week. She is still holding and I can still see where the two eggs are - they have not migrated any further down toward her tail. She is still alert and moving around, tongue flicking like normal, and happily takes a small meal every time I offer (jumbo mouse or pup rat every 12-14 days). She’s also passing normal bowel movements, both urates and poop. I’m seeing no signs of distress or ill health, though of course still keeping an eye out. I will talk to the vet about her recommendation, but I would prefer not to surgically intervene if I don’t have to. I haven’t been handling her other than to check her condition and for soaks, but depending on vet recommendation I may start gently handling her again so that she can use her muscles.
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What you can do to get things moving is try giving her swim/soak time in a bathtub, if you have access. The combination of the relaxing effect of the water + the muscle movement involved in swimming might spur the eggs to move.
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I don’t have access to a bathtub unfortunately (my one and only complaint about my house is that it’s showers only) but I could absolutely go buy a bigger tub at Target and let her move around a bit in that. Right now I’m soaking her in a bin about half the size of her normal bin, so she can stretch along the sides but not move much other than that.
Ultimately, I just want her to be healthy and happy. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make that happen
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A larger tub she can move around in would be a good investment, I think. The issue you run into with eggs that are held internally too long is they can continue to calcify, creating a texture that makes them kind of “stick” to the reproductive tract.
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