gestation question

The POS (post ovulation shed) does typically take a little longer, like 16-18 days shed cycle.

yes, boas that are ovulating and/or gravid will often turn up on their sides in the back area. (I've also seen a non-gravid boa do this once or twice.) She hasn't had her POS yet right?

Here's one of mine doing the side leaning about half way through gestation, I have more pics from years ago but they are not loaded up online.


If you haven't already, this is a wealth of information about boa breeding that Jeff Boaphile was nice enough to share online:
http://www.theboaphile.com/article.html

Good luck

Thanks for the pic April, very helpful!
No she has not had her POS yet, but she has gone into a shed.

That is what my female was doing, but it was more in the midsection rather than the back half of her.
I think she is going to have a rather small litter, because she isn't very large yet..but its still early on. Thanks for the link!

Well, she just shed, so either this wasn't a POS or I somehow missed when she was first going into it..
That or with my luck my animals are just not following the "normal" routines of breeding behavior..lol

could have just been her follices growing as well....

Hmm...Well, I have left the male in there just in case, but he hasn't taken any further interest in her. And that could be a double edged sword, but we'll see what happens. Should I count 105 days from when she shed and used that as an estimate on the birth date?

if you think that she ovualted before the shed then yes count 105 days. if not leave your male with her, a lot of people dont know about follice growth since many people still cool down their boas. females have 3 shed cycles as their follicles grow

will it hurt if I were to just leave the male in there regardless? I mean, is it going to be too stressful on the female if she is gravid to have the male in the cage with her? As she gets further along I'm sure I'll be able to tell and I can take him out then for sure but I just dont want to miss out on this season, that way I have a bit of experience under my belt for next season.

someone else will have to help you out there, i only have males in with females when their follices reach 18 mm and when they ovualte i pull out or if females follicles get smaller ill pull the male out..

Females swell a little when developing follicles. Sometimes they develop both oviducts at the same time, creating a pretty noticeable swell, sometimes they'll develop one side, then the other later on, making it not quite so obvious when it happens, but you can still see it if you know your snake well. Often times, and this is my opinion as well as that of my vets, people mistake this as the "first ovulation". From a medical standpoint though, they ovulate once in a season.

Once the actual ovulation happens, the ovum literally turn inside out and swell up. This is that ate a large meal look many get. However, sometimes they ovulate over a longer period of time, and that extra meal look may be harder to catch. After ovulation, the ovum will be distributed throughout the body for gestation time, and the huge lump you saw will no longer be localized, making it seem to have gone away. But you should still notice a girth increase from all the ovum inside.

If they ovulate, you'll have a litter. Either viable offspring, or infertile ovum (slugs). However, it sometimes occurs, for whatever reason, that they develop follicles and reabsorb them before ovulation. In these cases, she will go right back to normal, including her feed response. My Honduran pulled this on me last season.

Your best clue to if she ovulated is her behavior since you are unsure if you saw follicles developing or actual ovulation. The male loosing interest, her keeping to the heat, eating with less gusto, or refusing outright, heat conservation position, laying on her side, and finally, growth. If she's acting gravid, but hasn't grown any after a couple months, likely slugs, or not so many viable babies. If obvious growth occurs, then you may have a litter on your hands in the future.

I can't confirm or deny what Chase says about the multiple sheds, but I can say it's not something I've noticed in them. Most I've experienced was a shed, seemingly on schedule with her last shed, and then a post ovulation shed which, like April said, takes a bit longer then normal shed.

Hope that helps out. I'm not the authority on it, but I'd like to think I'm observant enough to make the info not too far off track.

Well, I have noticed that she is pretty active..and I'm beginning to think that she's too active to be gravid. I'm noticing that she is gaining some girth, but where I see it most is in her tail. Above the vent that is. Her tail has gained the most girth, and she looks full (not like an ovation or carrying babies, but a filled out body) It's possible that she reabsorbed...and if she did that it might make the most sense. The last feeding she didn't seem too interested in, but overnight she decided she was hungry and ate. For the last few days she has seemed a bit restless. Almost like she's on the hunt or something.

I'm not sure if she's gravid, but I sure am having fun! It's really interesting to just sit and watch them sometimes. I'm not really counting on making tons of money off the litter..shoot, I'd be happy if she only gave me one little baby. I've grown up around snakes, and have always wanted to have many of them and breed em just to say I did it.

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, but I just want to make sure I know everything and I'm doing it right to keep her and the offspring as healthy and safe as possible. I really appreciate all the help guys!