'Tis the season!

The news is mixed. She has a bacterial infection in her respiratory tract, for which she has been prescribed Tazicef. The vet says it's not likely to be contagious through the air, so I can put her back in her enclosure in the reptile room. Had him run a bunch of tests before he decided what exactly was wrong, including a CBC. On the blood work, he found elevated calcium levels, which he says is often related to pregnancy. So either Motley did his job very quickly, or she might slug out this season. We'll have to see what happens, but where he confirmed a respiratory infection I don't think I'll be putting Motley back in with her.

Thought I'd share a few more pics too.

Glad you caught it early!

I'm laughing about the backwards courting, I've seen that before. "Well, at least he is enthusiastic!" haha

Lol, yeah that's exactly what I thought when I saw Dampe courting backwards.

Just offered Lilly a very small meal. She didn't accept it, but I placed it on the warm end for her. I'll check back in a few hours. The vet wanted a stool sample for analysis just to make sure the bacteria aren't in her digestive tract, especially where there might be babies. It took some work to find a reptile specialist and in the end I had to drive an hour and a half each way to get her to his office. Totally worth it, but still a pain in the backside.

I'm keeping a close eye on Motley. He was in with Lilly for a little while and I'm pretty nervous at the thought of her illness spreading at all. Bad enough to have one boa sick, especially during breeding season. Hopefully I caught it early enough.

Good catch to spot this so early and take quick action. The male could have caught her illness from the shared water bowl -- though I hope not! -- so I would consider testing anyway, just to be sure to wipe this illness out. Again, great eye and well done.

Thanks Cliff. I'll be getting him an appointment as soon as possible, just to be on the safe side.

Lilly ate yesterday, about an hour after I posted. The rat was less than half the weight I usually offer her, but with her illness and possible pregnancy I think smaller is better. I'm glad she ate despite all that.

It's been a super crazy season. We had a baby four weeks premature, I've had to look for extra work to help cover things, Lilly's caught a respiratory infection, I have a surprising amount of work with the boas (my own fault, building up so quickly and breeding so many at once)... It just never seems to end. Feels like I'm always exhausted.

On the positive side, it looks like the season is going well. Four of the five females I decided to breed this year are pretty swollen. A couple of them have gotten far more defensive than usual, which I suppose is understandable. Don't want to disturb them too much so it will probably be another 3-4 weeks before I get more pictures up.

In the meantime, best of luck to everyone! I'm pretty excited to see what spring brings!

Hang in there, it will all be worth it in the end! (And congrats on the new arrival.)

Thanks Cliff.

The season continues. The males are out for a rest and everyone ate a small meal yesterday. Looks like we'll probably have four litters.

Lilly (pair 1 female) is doing well. Two more doses of her antibiotic and then a follow-up visit with the veterinarian. She's getting bigger. Hopefully those are babies and not slugs, but we'll see what comes of it. Motley has been depositing sperm plugs and tearing up his enclosure. Not too happy about being pulled early, but thankfully he avoided the infection.

Pair 2 hasn't been doing much lately. Poe is pretty large, so hopefully we'll get some snows and moonglows. Been awesome to watch these guys this year. Wish I'd be able to see if any of his babies have nice pink sides, because I'm a sucker for Corals, but since they're both anery that will have to wait until next time he breeds.

Pair 3 is the least likely to produce this season. There's courtship, but it's infrequent and she doesn't appear swollen at all. We'll see what happens. Maybe they're late starters or maybe they'll wait until next year.

Pair 4 is incredible. Sarah is my largest female, and at the moment she's more than double her usual girth. Robin has been pretty protective of her and is almost always curled up around her.

Pair 5 is doing pretty well. Mary is definitely swollen and Dampe is almost always trying to do his business. Hopefully they'll have some little ones in the near future.

In a couple more weeks I'll have those pictures of the swollen females, as long as none of them eat the camera. If I'm lucky I might have some estimated due dates as well. Good luck everybody!

Pulled the males out yesterday for a rest. I took a few pictures of each female. Here's what things look like so far. Starting with Pair 1 (Lilly) and ending with Pair 5 (Mary).

Females from pairs 4 and 5.

you're gunna have a lot of babies!