The first images below show the female as we found her on the evening of 27 March 2002. Our initial attempts at palpating the eggs out of the oviduct failed so we made a small incision in the oviduct and manually removed the eggs. It was at this point we discovered the first egg in the clutch had adhered to the wall of the oviduct. She was set up in a 28 quart Rubbermaid container with damp paper towel moistened with a dilute chlorhexadyne solution. She managed to pass several more eggs over the next 36 hours. The three initial eggs are shown shortly after they were removed from the female.
By 29 March egg laying had ceased but it was obvious more eggs were still inside the female. Our veterinarian suggested we try and irrigate the oviduct to assist in egg passage. The photos below show the process we used to attempt this. We were successful in administering approximately 70cc of Ringers solution. No additional eggs were recovered after the procedure.
At this point it was determined the female would have to undergo surgery to remove the remaining eggs. Below are photos of the procedure and the eggs that were recovered.
Many thanks go out to Dr. Christian Keller of the Mountain Hospital for Animals, Lookout Mountain, TN. Without his help both the female and all her eggs would surely have perished. At this point some of the eggs do appear to be developing and we are hopeful that her bloodline will continue.