Egg retention

[hhmoore]

My greybanded kingsnake deposited 4 eggs (all just seemed a little off - slightly deflated & squishy), but clearly had retained at least one/probably two more. I tried soaking, encouraged activity, and gentle massage. After speaking to my vet, I administered calcium gluconate (Thursday) and she passed another egg within 20 hours. Unfortunately, she still has another egg in there which hadn't passed as of the time I left for work last night (Saturday). My question, which I am also awaiting a response from my vet about, is: is the calcium glutonate a one time dose, or should I repeat it? Hopefully, this will be a moot issue when I get home, but I am still curious.

[snakebiteAZ1]

issue with two of my Cal Kings this year. They had passed all eggs but two each, the first one finally passed in about a week, but the other remained for another week or so. I kept soaking and massaging til finally it got close enough to the vent and i pulled it out with tweezers.. First time in 15 years i had this happen with Kingsnakes.. Weird, but both females were bred by the same male. And these were the ones with the unusually large eggs.. :shrug01: :shrug01: Good luck , and let me know how it turns out.. Mike Leonard

[hhmoore]

Well, I got word from my vet - yes, the calcium glutonate can be repeated (1-2 x/day). I heard from her Sunday evening, but by the time I got home Monday morning she had passed the other egg (the kingsnake, not the vet, lol).

I'm wondering if this is, in part, the result of feeding rat pups as the main portion of the diet (as opposed to mice). It seems that most of my kings and milks prefer them to mice, and I have sufficient quantities, so I figured why not. Probably would have been wise to have periodically supplemented them with calcium.

[nicolai]

Does your vet believe that the rats pups and mice don't have enough calcium naturally for the snakes proper levels?? I have never supplemented any of my breeder kings or milks with calcium and haven't had any problems. I have only seen calcium deficiencies in lizards ad amphibians for the most part. The only snakes i have seen with calcium deficiency were due to people feeding the snakes table food, snake sausages and such with no where near the proper vitamins and nutrients required to keep a snake healthy.

[hhmoore]

Nope, never even discussed that with her. Was just a thought that popped into my head as I was making that post. Consider it an online forum version of thinking out loud, lol...it popped into my head, and I typed it.

[nicolai]

Oh ok, was just curious on that one Harold. I think the do make calcium enriches snake sausages now though. I use the calcium glutonate on my froglets as well.

[nicolai]

Harold, how do you administer the calcium glgonate? Orally? or in food items? I have injectable calcium as well.

[hhmoore]

I injected it IM. The dose (at least for this purpose) is 10-50 mg/kg

[nicolai]

Ok,thanks Harold. Someone suggested that I use calcium gluconate for first year breeder boas. Being that it cant do any harm, I think i am going to try it on one or two females to see if it changes anything. Being that they are live bearers the only indicators would be the mortality rate and the amount of slugs I guess.