Egg bound!

[cchardwick]

I had two ball pythons lay eggs this week and the second one just laid today, five good eggs and two that are egg bound, any suggestions? The five good eggs were rolling around so I candled them and put them in the incubator. The female is six years old, was about 2800 grams at the start of the breeding season, but these eggs are super large, probably why they got stuck. I was thinking I should let her try to pass them on her own overnight, but if she can't get them out I'm not sure what to do, maybe try to gently work them out myself?

[cchardwick]

Here's a photo of her after I took her five eggs away. Looks like she has at least two eggs in the closest part of the snake. I really bumped up the humidity and she coiled back up, it looks like she is trying to push them out. Let's hope for the best!! I'm thinking if they don't come out I may use the ultrasound to verify how many are stuck then maybe find a local vet that can help me out... Hopefully by morning they will all come out. I did notice that the substrate was much drier than I'm used to keeping it, not sure if that was the problem or not.

[Tigerhawk]

I hope she passes the eggs tonight. It looks like you may be making a trip to the vet. Please keep us updated on how things work out.

[cchardwick]

I just ran across this video, if she doesn't pass them I'll try a warm soak and try to palpate them out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxNS2NRGVvM

[bcr229]

I would leave her alone for a day and then take her to the vet if she's not moving the eggs down. If her oviducts are twisted up then trying to push out the eggs can cause enough internal injury to kill her.

I would have already given my vet a heads-up. Being Facebook friends with him has its perks.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Where are the eggs? Mid body or near the cloaca?

While usually the problematic eggs are usually the first eggs and need to be drained, the opposite with one or two eggs not being laid can happen (been there), usually they will pass in the next 24 to 48 hours, if not a vet is highly recommended, do not try to massage them out as previously mentionned if the issue is due to twisted oviducts you will end up killing your female, however if you wait too long the egg will start to go bad causing an infection which will also lead to death.

Again in most cases they will pass on their own.

[zina10]

I've heard the tip of putting some wet moss in a corner, she should try to go there and lay them , if she at all can..

[cchardwick]

Well after boosting the humidity in the tub and just waiting overnight she finally laid all of her eggs! Thanks for all of your input everyone, I appreciate it! The total clutch size for this girl was seven eggs. Its a good thing I candled all of the eggs because most were upside down or on their sides compared to where the embryo and veins are supposed to be (on top), I'm sure most of the eggs wouldn't have hatched if I hadn't candled them and figured out which side was supposed to be on top.

[Godzilla78]

That is great news Hardwick! You got me so excited for my first breeding attempt. Beautiful mama snake there.
Off topic: Is that a Bamboo morph in your logo? I recently discover this morph, and once I get the money together, I am definitely purchasing a Bamboo morph ball python! Private message me, if you have some Bamboo hatchlings for sale one day.

[Ladybugzcrunch]

Great news