# Egg Bound - Plan of attack



## danmcg (Aug 1, 2005)

Okay I got this female corn, if I'm being honest I shouldn't have bred her, shes a bit small, but I ummed and arred about it at the time, decided to go for it and this is the boat were in. 

She has one last remaining egg stuck right at her end just before the vent, this has been there for 24 hours as of 10 pm tonight.

So I've been trawling through the forums and I'm thinking;

-give her a bath wait a couple of a hours 
-then maybe a slight massage (depending on how confident I feel) then wait until midday tomorrow. 
-If by then it's still stuck take her down the vet, forgetting about oxytocin cos from what I hear its less reliable than Chelsea, and getting them to aspirate the egg. 

From what I've been reading aspiration (I dont know if thats the plural or even the right word-I'm reffering to sucking the content of the egg out with a syringe) works best, or is only possible, within a 48 hour timeframe, which this would be.

So does this sound good, or do we think something else? Any help would be hella appreciated thankyou.:notworthy:


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## evilangel (Jul 7, 2007)

leave her for now ours laid a another a few days after she laid 18


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## danmcg (Aug 1, 2005)

I was thinking about it but was worried if it did stay lodged then she'd have to go in for surgery. 
So I aspirated the egg yesterday AND I did it myself, she popped the remains of the shell out within 10 minutes so I'm very proud of myself at the moment, everything seems to be going well!


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## evilangel (Jul 7, 2007)

good fingers crossed for you


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## sue (Mar 17, 2005)

That is what I would have done too, I think it is by far the most favourable method and for me has worked 100% of the time and I think you were right to do it sooner rather than later. I think too many people leave it hoping the last egg/ eggs will follow but often they don't by which time aspiration is difficult and the female is more stressed and tired.


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## Toonami (Mar 18, 2008)

I dont mean to hijack the thread but im in the same boat. i took my female corn to the vet last week and had the contents of 6 eggs removed, however the female still hasnt passed the shells, i am booked in to see the vet tomorrow but is there anything else i can do to make her pass them. also what is the survival rate of a corn that has an operation?

Im glad everything is okay with your female now danmcg
again sorry for hijacking the thread, abit worried really

onw other thing. in the 3 years this female has bred she has bee egg bound twice, is this likely to be a regular thing, should i stop breeding her?

Thanks again
Natalie


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## sue (Mar 17, 2005)

I have never had to aspirate that many eggs, it usually seems to be the last one or two that don't follow the rest. I aspirate the one nearest the vent and it has always been passed. I have never had to have one operated on so could really comment on the survival rate although if I did have to have it done I wouldn't breed that female again.

As for whether to breed her again I think depends on her condition. She needs to be fit ie have good muscle tone because egg laying is demanding on the snakes body so she need exercise the rest of the year (pet snakes often eat too much and not exercise enough), an excellent diet of good quality rodents and she needs to be the right weight, too fat and she might have poor stamina and muscle tone and too small/ thin might not produce quality eggs or have enough stamina to lay them.

All that said, there is obviously a problem of some sort if she has become egg bound two out of three times so you may not want to put her through it again. If you decide not to mate her though she may well still lay infertile eggs every year and can still have trouble laying them.
Good luck with her.


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