From Florida Native Snake Rescue and Rehab

Yesterday afternoon we took in an adult non-venomous Yellow Ratsnake that had swallowed a false wooden egg in a chicken lay box. The homeowner felt terrible it happened and had been trying to catch him for a couple months to get him help. We're glad she finally did! Without intervention, this snake would have died a slow and painful death as these false eggs create a complete gastrointestinal obstruction.

Here at our facility we tried our best to massage the egg back out of his mouth manually, as we typically do in these cases. Unfortunately, because the egg had been in there for so long, we were unsuccessful. The decision was then made to rush him in for emergency treatment with our friend and local reptile veterinarian Dr. Tony

Colbert at the Exotic Bird Hospital, Jacksonville. He was thankfully able to perform the surgery last night and he successfully removed the wooden egg. The snake spent the night at the vet hospital, and we will update you later on this poor fellow's progress.

Emergency surgery is expensive, and we are grateful for any donations the public feels moved to give. If you would like to help, we are so thankful for you!! The preliminary estimate for this beautiful snake's surgery & after care is between $480-$680.

From people in the comment section, wooden eggs are placed in coops to supposedly encourage laying.

I guess that is a chicken thing? I know we've given some of our ambassador birds fake eggs to prevent them from laying and wasting nutrients and energy unnecessarily, from what I understood...