My corn snake ate its own eggs :(

[andyshaw2008]

Well ive had my cornsnakes for about 8 years, i bought them togheter and they have lived in the same Vivarium since i purchased them, a couple of years ago they started breeding and ovbiously laying eggs, the first time they never hatched which was good because i never had the equipment for the hatchlings if they did hatch to keep them alive and all the rest they would have needed but the last time they breeded was about 1 year ago and the female layed about 15 eggs, any way my dad came over for a visit by this time i had seperated the eggs from the snakes which i had put the eggs in a box and left them in the tank and the lid on the eggs were sealed so the adult snakes could not gain access any way my dad came for a visit while i was out because i had told him that eggs had been layed and without me knowing he had a sneak peek at them BUT he had left the lid off at one end and the female snake had opened the lid fully, went in and ate roughly 7 eggs so immediately i phoned my friends who own a reptile rescue and they told me to take it to them and i did and they said it looks really really bad so they phoned up a few vets but they said they cannot operate on it because its a risky operation then we found a vets that will operate but its roughly 400 - 500 miles away which i cannot travel that far so ive just been tending to it my self. All this happened roughly 9 months ago and my snake hasnt ate in 4 - 5 months, ive been injecting liquid parafin dwn its throat to help the eggs and it has helped a little bit but now im really scared because its getting really thin but today i had a break through i thought to my self its all or nothing its gonna die within a month if i dnt try some thing so i got the snake got some warm water and bathed it for about 1 hour and then i massaged the eggs and all the food that had been stuck behind the eggs started coming out but only with a little bit of pressure and massaging it came out BUT no eggs came out and its seems like its splitting its bum a little bit so ive bought some more liquid parafin and some antiseptic and because its got rid of some waste thers enough room for me to fit a suringe into its bum and squirt some liquid parafin in but what i want to know is that a good idea or not? and another thing i want to know is ther any kind of liquid food i can feed the snake to keep it healthy because it wont eat and ive asked pet shops and they say they dont know so i thought i would ask all of you since you all have alot of years experience so please can you help me and if their is any other info that you have that can help me then please give me it as i need it badly.

Thanks for reading

Andy Shaw.

[toyah]

If a snake has eaten eggs, it will digest them. Why are you feeding it liquid paraffin? Why would a vet want to operate on a snake that has eaten an egg?

If there are actual eggs inside the snake it sounds like she's eggbound (not through eating eggs - through producing eggs), and so your responsibility as her owner is to get her to a vet who can take a look at her ASAP. Where do you live?

[andyshaw2008]

i live in hartlepool and she is not egg bound we had a few people look at her and she is not egg bound she has eaten them and the people who we took them too say that its a mystery why she cant pass them

[peaches]

Hi there, I have heard of snakes eating their own eggs but I don't actually think eating the eggs was the problem, I think she was egg bound, which means she hadn't laid the whole clutch.

This can be a real problem and some wont eat whilst bound, some eventually do pass them, other need am operation to remove them.

I'm not sure about the liquid parafin, hopefully someone else will know about that, bathing is a good idea to help massage them down, which you seem to have now done, but also she is going to be very weak aswell because she's gone so long without food.

You can add vitimins and pro-biotics to her water, such as Avipro or reptoboost (google will help you find it)

But in all honesty now, I think a vet trip is needed, where are you? Hopefully someone here may know one closer to you.

[andyshaw2008]

she wont even drink water... so im having to use a suringe to get her to drink it, i know that she needs a vet visit ASAP but the closest one we and my friends know of that will operate on my snake is too far away but if some one else on here can help me then please do i really want help and ok ill try them vitamins on her see if that works thank you very much



Ive googled them but does any one know a website i can get them cheap?

[toyah]

If you live in Hartlepool there is no way you need to travel 4-500 miles to a vet who will treat reptiles.

Check through this thread: http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/gener...vets-near.html

alternatively phone your most local decent reptile shop and ask who they would recommend.

If there are eggs stuck inside your snake, she is eggbound. Vitamins might help her recover, but she's going to need more than that.

[peaches]

Ring your local vets, get advice from them. They should know someone more local. Had a quick look on yell.com on there seems to be some quite close to you.

Exotic Vets in Hartlepool » Yell.com

This is some drops you put directly into the snakes mouth, read dosage though. But this will not be nowhere near enough to help her recover

Livefood UK Ltd.

[sue]

So you think that the eggs are still there after eating them 9 months ago? As previously said it is far more likely to be that there were more eggs left inside at the time but that is by the by all this time further on.

I don't think liquid parafin will work now at either end and you definitely need to see a vet who deals with snakes now, today! Someone in your area will know of a herp vet not too far away and a vet will operate if he thinks the snakes life is in danger.

Please seek professional help asap. No matter how experienced any of us are, we are not vets and can't give you medical advise. Your animal, by the sounds of it, is suffering.

Others obviously type much faster than me lol! Take the above advise and get to a vet.

[Snow_Man_UK]

I think a trip to a specialist vet is needed (try exotic specialists Grange Vets, Darlington). These snakes can feed on eggs in the wild although I have not heard of digestion problems. I guess it is possible that the digestive process has shut down due to poor health/dehydration, albiet it sounds more like egg binding.

Even a normal vet should be able to see whats happening with an xray/ultrasound. I certainly wouldn't try any further home redemdies until the cause is confirmed.

[amanda75]

You say this happened *nine* months ago??! I think it's probably a little beyond the stage where anything you do at home is going to help her. You need a vet, and as soon as possible! RCVS online comes up with over 100 vets in the Hartelpool area which say they treat exotics. I'd suggest you have a look here and start ringing round!