Obtaining Oviparous Grass Snake Natrix natrix (Serpentes, Colubridae), embryos at Early Developmental Stages by Caesarean Section

There is a specific feature in the developmental biology of oviparous snakes:  embryos in the eggs, which were just laid, have already undergone significant development. This fact makes it significantly complicated to obtain data on organs’ development at early stages of embryogenesis. In a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Date:2021
Main Authors: Sheverdyukova, H., Merzlikin, I. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Publishing House "Akademperiodyka" of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine 2021
Online Access:https://ojs.akademperiodyka.org.ua/index.php/Zoodiversity/article/view/160
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Journal Title:Journal Zoodiversity

Institution

Journal Zoodiversity
Description
Summary:There is a specific feature in the developmental biology of oviparous snakes:  embryos in the eggs, which were just laid, have already undergone significant development. This fact makes it significantly complicated to obtain data on organs’ development at early stages of embryogenesis. In addition, the fertilization time and the duration of snake pregnancy in the wild are unknown. In order to obtain the embryos of oviparous grass snake Natrix natrix (Serpentes, Colubridae) at successive developmental stages with minimal harm to gravid females we used caesarean section. The past known experience of performing caesarean section in snakes and anesthesia in reptiles were used. All the embryos were taken from the upper oviduct of a female at one time; in this way we eliminated the influence of medications on embryos’ development. The described method is valuable when it is necessary to obtain snake embryos and to preserve the life of the female and, possibly, its reproductive ability.