Solana - Our Scaleless Sunglow Motley Corn

[Bogertophis]

I sure do love orange snakes! She's glowing nicely these days.

[dakski]

Solana needs your thoughts and prayers.

Sunday I went to change her water and check on her for feeding Monday.

She had laid 9 eggs, but clearly had some left in her - probably 3-4. To be clear, Solana has never met another snake and certainly never mated with one. All the eggs appear to be slugs.

I gave her a day to see if they would come out and they didn't. I called the vet and spend the next two days massaging and palpitating her, and making her move/exercise, which she didn't want to do. None of that helped.

The vet said to bring her in today. It doesn't look good. They still have her. They are soaking her, giving her calcium (to help get the eggs to come out on their own), antibiotics, and pain meds. If she hasn't passed them by Friday morning, they will do an ultrasound to see where she is at and what the eggs/uterus, etc. look like. If possible, they will either crush the eggs or drain the eggs to see if she can pass them.

If that doesn't work, surgery is an option, but I won't do it. Not fair to her, IMO, and the prognosis at the point isn't good either.

I am very upset at the prospect of losing her and that she's in so much pain and discomfort right now.

Given that I've never bred her, this is a huge surprise. I'll preemptively say that there's nothing I could have done to prevent this and the vet feels I am acting appropriately and in a timely manner. In case anyone else runs into this.

Anyway, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and I'll advise one way or another soon.

It's been a rough week. Katie's grandfather passed yesterday. So lots going on. Please forgive me if I do not update immediately. Also, to be clear, I probably won't know anything until Friday at the earliest.

[Homebody]

My family's thoughts and prayers are with you and Katie.

[Bogertophis]

Sorry, I'm late to seeing your post, Dave. I'm sorry to hear of Katie's grandfather, & for sure, Solana is in my thoughts today.

In case you've forgotten, I have many times now experienced female snakes that are determined to reproduce without a male influence of any kind. Suffice to say I can relate to what a shock that is.

In the past I had a rosy boa that produced both slugs & a live baby that lived for about 8 mos. before passing from defects. That's the ONLY reason I got into breeding rosy boas: with a mate, she produced very healthy offspring for 5 years out of the 11 years since she was turned over to me, & lived to her mid-20's. Without a mate, she would likely have died years many earlier, since she was already up in years w/ very poor muscle tone from her many years of poor care & malnourishment in a museum. Rosy boas have live babies that cooperate in "leaving home", whereas slugs take serious effort to expel, especially for an older snake like she was, with poor muscle tone. Goes without saying that with proper care & adequate warmth under my care, she ate extremely well for me & thereafter produced only big healthy "snap-dragons" instead of slugs. I agonized over the decision to give her a mate at the time, but in the end, it was the right decision.

And then there's my 2 large "Florida" rat snakes (now 15 years old- a c/b blend of Yellow, Gulf Hammock, & Everglades) that every summer produce huge double clutches of eggs without ever having mated (I got them when they were a year & a half old, btw), & a number of their eggs always appear viable- which I proved when I incubated them in 2019 & 3 of them hatched out, very viable indeed. I still have 2 of those 3 snakes that are doing well (one had to be euth'd last year due to spinal defect that finally became a problem). These adult females are now "old" (at age 15), & they've been laying all these slugs/eggs every year for about 7 years now- Every year I worry about them, but there's nothing I can do.

So parthenogenesis is always both a risk & a delight when you keep female snakes- & unfortunately there's the risk of egg-binding too. I once lost a very nice young Caif. king to egg-binding- I had no idea she even had eggs- it wasn't obvious at all. I also had a Trans Pecos rat snake that had a SUCCESSFUL "spay" surgery to cure an ectopic pregnancy. She recovered nicely, by the way. But I sure wish snakes came with an "off" switch.

Are these last eggs noticeably larger than the ones she was able to expel? I've played "midwife" to a bull snake that needed some help to push out one unusually large egg, poor snake- at that point she was getting tired & it was very fortunate that I was able to help her with that one without a surgical intervention or aspiration. As you're probably aware, aspiration works but with a needle going thru the abdominal wall, then there's a risk of infection.

Keeping good thoughts for your pretty Solana.

[Aspen0122]

Such beautiful snakes.

I hope that she gets better soon ^^

[Bogertophis]

Hey dakski- how is Solana doing? Any luck getting the rest of the eggs out? Poor little snake- there's no way I know of to prevent this- there wasn't anything you could have done differently, it just happens with some female snakes. It's nature's way of trying every trick in the book to perpetuate the species, regardless of the individual. I sure hope she's alright.

[dakski]

Things have been a little crazy.

Solana is still at vet. She's been being soaked and getting pain meds and antibiotics.

Ultrasound yesterday was mixed. The eggs are stuck together and maybe to her as well, that is unclear. She was very constipated, but the vet was able to drain the eggs a bunch. Not completely, but a lot. That should allow her to go to the bathroom.

The swelling today is a little better and that could be good, but she hasn't passed the eggs. Small chance she can absorb some or all of them, but that's unclear as well.

Just a waiting game now.

I pick her up Monday morning and she will need soaking, antibiotics (inter muscular injections), and pain meds. Only time will tell how she does or if she makes it. I am trying not keep my expectations metered.

I want her to be fine, but also understand, that's a lower probability than the opposite.

Next Friday, she will probably get another ultrasound, especially if the eggs haven't passed. We will re-evaluate then.

Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, and concern.

I will do my best to keep you posted.

[nikkubus]

I'm sorry to hear things are so rough right now for you and your family. I'm glad Solana got care ASAP and hopefully she can make it through this okay. I've had virgin corns lay eggs before too, and it's never a nice surprise. Best of luck on all fronts.

[dakski]

I am picking Solana up from the vet this afternoon. He says she is very stressed and would benefit being home.

Overall, good news, although she's not out of the woods yet.

She passed one of the eggs. That's good.

She's also going into shed/started shedding (sometimes she does that in pieces - at least to start - and that's what's happening now). The shed will take energy, but also should boost her immune system and is a good sign.

That's all I know now. I'll keep everyone posted.

Please continue good wishes, thoughts, and prayers for her.

Thank you.

[Bogertophis]

That's all pretty hopeful, at least. Shedding will get her to move her body around more too. Fingers crossed! Eggs can be such a pain!