Still Waiting....

So, some of you may remember that this is my first attempted breeding season for my boas. The first attempt, my hog island pair, didn't go so well because while the female seemed to ovulate and there was breeding behavior, the female died near her due date in March, of an intestinal problem, no babies present.

Well, I also have my pair of BCC, adopted last year, who showed breeding behavior. The female also seemed to ovulate, but not hugely. After leaving them together for a couple of months, the male stopped showing interest. The female shed in late Feb (can't recall the exact date, though I wrote it down somewhere), and so I came up with June 15 as a possible due date. She was over 3 years when I got her (according to the previous owner), and 8.5 feet with good muscle tone but not fat.

However, even though she did swell while breeding, she hasn't really gotten big in the belly. She's been on a reduced diet since I've had the male out but she hasn't refused a meal (I've been giving her 1 med rat every 2 weeks, when her normal meal was 2 large every 2 weeks).

She hasn't lost much weight, her rear area seems a tad heavier than her front proportionally, but she doesn't look ANYTHING like some of the "super gravid" photos I've seen (no scale separation). I'm afraid she didn't take.

I'll post some pics later, but this is proving to be a very depressing first season! Has anyone ever had a female who doesn't look "that fat" surprise them anyway with a litter? Do ALL gravid females get so large in the rear end that they show scale separation, late in the pregnancy?

She's a beautiful snake, and since I was trying to breed her, haven't handled her very much at all since I got her, to reduce risks of harming embryos. If she's not gravid, I want to start getting her used to being handled again. But, if there's a chance there still may be babies in there, I'll wait until after the due date to start moving her around.

Got a pic of her?

I'll take a new one this evening. The last ones I have are when she looked a little more swollen a couple of months ago.

Here is a picture of her, just taken. From the way she's laying now, her midsection does look a little swollen, but shouldn't her weight be further towards her tail if she's gravid, by now? She's about 15-20 days away from her due date.

So, does she look gravid? Or not? I guess I'll know in a couple of weeks either way.

She kind of looks gravid but I can't really tell by the way shes curled up.

My one and only I have been succesful so far with, showed no weight gain what so ever. It also took her six months to drop. I was just about to take her into a friend of mine at the vet for an ultra sound because she had not eaten the entire time when she finally dropped. She looked emaciated after she dropped and that would explain why she showed no dicernable difference while gravid.

That gives me hope, thanks! She also hasn't shed since (what I think was) her post-ovulation shed. And this is a snake that would shed every 6 weeks or so like clockwork beforehand. She's also starting to stay on the warmer side of the cage and stretch out a lot (which she normally doesn't do). We shall see!

Thanks for the thoughts! Hopefully I'll have exciting photos to share in a while... fingers crossed.