Egg binding in unbred female snakes - is it possible?
John Engstrom
Is it possible for unbred female snakes (of any species, really, but
I'm most interested in knowing about ball pythons) to lay eggs?
A search with DejaNews revealed a post a while back. This guy
said his vet told him that it is possible, but rare, for unbred female
corn snakes to lay eggs. I assume that any snake which can lay
eggs can also get egg bound. Is that a safe assumption?
Thanks,
John Engstrom
Paul J Hollander
In article <33e2cbbb...@news.onramp.net>,
John Engstrom <engs...@onramp.nospam.net> wrote:
>Is it possible for unbred female snakes (of any species, really, but
>I'm most interested in knowing about ball pythons) to lay eggs?
I once had a female bullsnake (_Pituophis catenifer sayi_) that laid
infertile eggs two years in a row. She was never in a cage with a male
and was never brumated. I've had a couple of other bullsnakes lay
infertile egg clutches, but they were with a male and may have mated. I
also once saw a clutch of infertile eggs laid by a wild caught and
presumably wild bred female. But if she had actually been bred in the
wild, why was the whole clutch infertile?
>A search with DejaNews revealed a post a while back. This guy
>said his vet told him that it is possible, but rare, for unbred female
>corn snakes to lay eggs. I assume that any snake which can lay
>eggs can also get egg bound. Is that a safe assumption?
We know for a fact that some egg laying snakes have gotten egg bound.
IMHO, it is a very small and reasonable step to the generalization that
any egg laying snake could get egg bound.
Paul Hollander phol...@iastate.edu
Behold the tortoise: he makes no progress unless he sticks his neck out.
Jeff Barringer
> We know for a fact that some egg laying snakes have gotten egg bound.
> IMHO, it is a very small and reasonable step to the generalization that
> any egg laying snake could get egg bound.
I would like to go further and say that it is more likely that an unbred
female would get eggbound than a bred female, as generally infertile
eggs
don't have the hardened shell that fertile eggs do, and are more tacky,
or
sticky and are tougher to drop....
Edwin M. Herst
Jeff Barringer <webm...@kingsnake.com> wrote:
John If you brumate the snake then she will probably ovulate. If she
ovulates she will probably produce follicles. If she produces eggs
she wil probably lay them. If she doesn't there is no probably about
it, she is egg-bound. Any laid eggs would be slugs UNLESS it is a
species which can retain sperm. In that case you get the proverbial
"virgin" birth. I would suggest that you watch your females and I
they appear to be getting gravid (size gain,weight gain, changes in
eating habits) then treat her as gravid( provide an egg box, handle
less, minimize stress) This will help lessen the chance for binding.
Happy Herping! eD
Joel
I'm "the guy w/ the corn snake". The reason the vet and I were discussing
the issue was that I had a large female snake that I had just purchased
knowing/suspecting it was egg bound. The former owner claimed it had never
been with a male snake or produced eggs. I wasn't sure if I believed her.
The snake was close to four feet long and had been housed in a ten gallon
tank w/ no hide box. She had to have surgery to remove the eggs (2).
I now believe that snake did not lay the eggs due to lack of a suitable
area. This snake had been kept at a pet store in an area with other snakes.
Perhaps pheramones(sp) caused her to produce eggs or else she got chilled
enough to cause her to ovulate.
This year the snake was not brumated, and was given a large cage w/ a hide
box and did not produce eggs. She was in the same room with several other
pairs of snakes that did breed so that "male scent" might not be the best
answer unless a combination of factors caused her to produce eggs. The
former owner was the second owner so perhaps the snake was breed formerly,
although she denies this as well.
The short of it is that I don't know why it happened but it didn't happen
this year.
John Engstrom <engs...@onramp.nospam.net> wrote in article
<33e2cbbb...@news.onramp.net>...
> Is it possible for unbred female snakes (of any species, really, but
> I'm most interested in knowing about ball pythons) to lay eggs?
> A search with DejaNews revealed a post a while back. This guy
> said his vet told him that it is possible, but rare, for unbred female
> corn snakes to lay eggs. I assume that any snake which can lay
> eggs can also get egg bound. Is that a safe assumption?
>
> Thanks,
> John Engstrom
>
Kurt J. Schatzl
Diana Walker wrote:
>
> This happens quite frequently. I have seven corns, and all of the females
> (five of the seven) were not bred this year, nor were they brumated. Three
> of the five clutched anyway. They can also get eggbound. Usually giving
> them some peat moss that's been dampened helps mine lay. What's your
> particular situation?
A snake which has bred before but not during the past year may
still retain sperm and fertilize ova to produce eggs. Sperm retention
has not been documented in all or even most species of snakes, which
should not lead us to believe that it would not occur in a species which
has not yet been documented. I would venture to say that any snake
which has been bred within the last several years will have this
"potential."
Egg-binding occurs mostly in undersized animals. Hobbyists
(myself included) have a bad habit of breeding their females at the
minimum size given in texts for sexual maturity. I believe this leads
to many egg-binding problems.
--
Kurt Schatzl
President-Elect, NEHS.
New England Herpetological Society homepage
http://www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/NEHS/NEHSndx.html
Diana Walker
McM West
> Egg-binding occurs mostly in undersized animals. Hobbyists
>(myself included) have a bad habit of breeding their females at the
>minimum size given in texts for sexual maturity. I believe this leads
>to many egg-binding problems.
Kurt,
I've actually had the most problems with egg binding in my larger
animals. I believe egg binding to be due in part to lack of muscle
strength probably caused by cramped quarters.We changed caging setups 2
years ago to much larger size for our larger females and have had no egg
binding at all since.
Bob
John Engstrom
On 3 Aug 1997 00:30:04 GMT, "Diana Walker" <#dsw#@u.washington.edu>
wrote:
>They can also get eggbound. Usually giving them some peat moss that's been
>dampened helps mine lay. What's your particular situation?
Diana,
My situation is that I am about to get a female ball python. Although
I have no intention of breeding her or brumating her, I was wondering
if developing eggs was possible. My opinion is it's better to have
all the knowledge possible before aquiring anything you're responsible
for. Only when I'm armed with all the facts I can get a hold of, both
positive and negative, do I feel good about my decisions.
John Engstrom
Kurt J. Schatzl
food or potential mates so their exercise regime is not what it ought to
be. I would imagine that it is probably a good idea, if not completely
feasable in all situations, to give your animals as much room as possible.
This is why I prefer wild-caught females for egg-laying whenever possible.
Python4340
>Perhaps pheramones(sp) caused her to produce eggs or else she got chilled
>enough to cause her to ovulate.
>
>
Does anyone know how/where (I know its between the scales) pheramones are
let out?
Chris
"Burmese pythons are great snakes, no matter how hard you try to degrade them!"