Snake update

[beetiger]

We got Xoco into a vet who knew something about snakes, and after a shot of oxytocin, a boatload of lubricant, and a lot of manipulation, he managed to get the stuck egg out of her.

Rhys was very good while we waited for over an hour in the vet's office for her to get seen, amusing himself by talking to the (dog) patients, watching the 24-hour petcare channel, eating cookies, and filling in a coloring book on how to take care of your new dog. He was good at the restaurant where we did more waiting too, even if he did scream "siu mai! siu mai!" a little loudly at the waitress.

The vet seemed very proud of himself for managing to solve the problem without surgery. He was smirking and practically *glowing*! He wanted me to call the vet who referred me to him and tell them what an excellent job he did.

Xoco's home now, resting in a travel cage until I can get her moved into a new bachlorette pad. No more sharing a cage with Chile for her! I need to decide if I'm going to move the three young ones together into the giant cage, or just let Chile have it solo. Hopefully she'll be okay.

The egg's actually intact, and soft and nice, much better looking than the rest of the clutch, actually. I can see the embryo at the bottom. I'm guessing the lube has probably screwed up the breathing of the egg and it won't live, but for the moment, I've put it in with the other eggs. Who knows, maybe we'll have a miracle baby!

Comments

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yay healthy happy snake mothers! I hope she's all warm and happy after that ordeal.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Yay for healthy snakes and vets who don't rush into surgery! Congratulations to all of you. ;)

Regarding the babies, I once made the mistake of leaving baby grass snakes in the cage with the mother and another snake. About half the babies got reflexively eaten (they'd flash past an adult, and the adult would snap their head out and nab and swallow) before I noticed and removed them. You might want to keep the younglings away from adults for a bit?

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

siu mai?

[pobig.livejournal.com]

Good news! Hope the mother and babies do well.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Little chinese open-topped pork dumplings. He's got a board book called "Yum Yum Dim Sum", so he's up on these things.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the eggs are in their own space, never to see mom and dad again. Corn snakes are the poster children for gentle friendly snakes as far as handling them goes, but they're moderately agressive cannibals. When I used to work with them in the lab, we once had two baby corns fighting over the same pinky, one at the head, and one at the tail. The faster one just...kept going, and ate his brother entirely. (Then he grew really big quickly.)

The "young ones" are the kids of Xoco and Chile, but they're three-year old adults. Ancho and Cumin would probably do okay together in one cage; Mole's kind of agressive, like his dad.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

She seems sore and skittish right now, but I think she's going to be alright.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

You have simply wonderful names for your snakes. ;)

[cathawk.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I know almost nothing about snakes...so how did you know one egg was still stuck in her?

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

She had an egg sized and shaped lump near her vent (where the eggs come out). It was actually extremely obvious. It's funny, I guess people have pets they don't know a lot about. The vet at first challenged me, "So why do you think this snake has a problem?". I just pointed. :P

[goodluckfox.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that your snake is okay. I remember you having stray snakes... they're domesticated snakes now, I take it. how on earth did you wind up with a breeding pair?

Loxley

[cathawk.livejournal.com]

Ah...good thing you were watching!!

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Those things are awesome. Kid's got good taste.

[akycha.livejournal.com]

I hope you have a miracle eggbaby!

What a nice ending to the story, too. :) Yay for vets who can fix things without surgery!