Difficulty passing slugs; When do I go to a vet?

[d_virginiana]

I think part of Harley's problem is that her system may not have had time to fully bounce back from those parasites (the reason I couldn't breed her this year being she was still in quarantine). That and it's her first time having babies or slugs, so I'd expect either to be a bit difficult the first time around.
I was curious though; do unbred females generally throw slugs every season, or only occasionally?

I was under the impression that for very old females breeding them would put too much strain on their bodies? I don't know a lot about it, but I would think a wild snake would generally probably not live long enough for old age to become a factor in breeding. That female definitely shows her age; you can look at her and tell she's older.

That aside, Harley is going back to the vet in the morning to stay until she passes them all. They gave my husband oxytocin shots to give her at home, but he apparently can't do it without jerking the needle out when she twitches and nearly injecting me with it. I'd do it, but I wasn't able to be at the vet when they were showing him how, and my hands were shaking too badly anyway.

[guidofatherof5]

Harley is in our prayers.

[d_virginiana]

Harley is in our prayers.

Thanks.

The vet said if three doses of oxytocin over a span of two days don't work, they would have to consider surgery. Not sure what exactly that would entail or what the success rate would be. The good news is she's still well within the timeframe of being okay as far as sepsis is concerned, so it's not a race against time at this point.

[gibble888]

Good luck

[chris-uk]

How have the injections gone? Hopefully they've helped.

Interesting that the vet prescribed a course of oxytocin - a little more than a year ago my wife was on an oxytocin drip to try to persuade Joseph that he really should consider making an appearance. The endocrinology of snakes must be more comparable to our own - wish I had time to study reptile biology properly.

[d_virginiana]

How have the injections gone? Hopefully they've helped.

Interesting that the vet prescribed a course of oxytocin - a little more than a year ago my wife was on an oxytocin drip to try to persuade Joseph that he really should consider making an appearance. The endocrinology of snakes must be more comparable to our own - wish I had time to study reptile biology properly.

The injections didn't work (they did cause contractions, so the chemicals were having an effect though). She's at the vet to go into surgery first thing in the morning... They said it would be fairly straight forward and they expected a good outcome. They're going to call tomorrow morning after the surgery to tell me how it went.
Then she'll be staying overnight, and coming home on some antibiotics and painkillers.

[gibble888]

Fingers crossed

[chris-uk]

Fingers crossed and hoping for a good outcome.

[d_virginiana]

We got a call this morning saying that the surgery went well, and she was waking up. She should be coming home on antibiotics/painkillers tomorrow.

I guess the question now is: Do I breed her next season? The safest thing would be for her to have neither babies nor slugs, but I can't really predict whether or not she will have slugs if I don't breed her. If she does have babies, the vet has said that would be safer than another litter of slugs. I'm going to ask some more questions tomorrow regarding how the surgery might have affected her ability to have litters safely, but I'm leaning toward breeding her next year.

[guidofatherof5]

I think you are right to ask questions. That would be the advice I would follow.
They will know whether to reproductive system was compromised.