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Got an ultrasound today

H

heathn

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I had an ultrasound performed on my albino female today. She is not gravid or it is very early as she also shed today. The vet saw something and wanted to check it out in a few weeks, could be the start of something, could be nothing. My vet here is not real experienced in boas, but she does own a few. My question is if anyone else had one done before? What did you find? At what stage of pregancy was it performed? We also weighed her again and she went from 34.6 lbs to 32 lbs since the end of September. She is about 8.5 ft. Any comments would be great.
On a side note I finally put my male albino and het together today. They are both 04's and it is their first time, wish me luck.

P.S. ever tried holding onto a big female covered in KY? very interesting, lol
 
I'm not sure about ultrasounds, but I did see an xray someone had done of a gravid boa. The boa was far enough along into her pregnancy that some of the babies' spines were visible. I'm not sure what an early pregnancy ultrasound would show up like, but most people do not bother with this unless there seems to be a health problem with the female.

The reason for this is that it is very risky to handle a boa while possibly gravid... both from the stress and simply because of the lifting and moving (I'm sure the lifting/moving becomes more dangerous the farther along the pregnancy is). So while I'd be curious to see what an ultrasound looks like, I won't be moving either of my possibly gravid boas unless I had an emergency reason (it's my first season attempting to breed my snakes as well, and I don't want anything to go wrong). Every breeding guide or book I've read says not to handle females that are breeding unless absolutely necessary....
 
got an ultrasound today

Ultrasounds are very nice. As far as telling the early stages of a boa being gravid there not that acurate. They really only pick up true shape. Later on a gravid female is easier to tell. My last ultrasound only showed 5 or 6 live babies no slugs. She had 13 live 1 still born. And 18 slugs. And this was by a vet not myself. There great to tell if a female is gravid or not in the late stages but dont count on anything in the early stages. Just alittle advice from someone who's been there. Thanks Daniel.
 
Didn't mean to step on any toes - just saying what came to mind. Everyone has different opinions about how to do things, and you're bound to see different opinions when you post. I just posted my own point of view, doesn't mean I don't appreciate your post!

That being said... was your vet able to print any images from the ultrasound? If you do get another ultrasound that shows something more definite, it would be interesting to see if you can post it.
 
I understand you didn't mean any harm, but there are way too many people quick to admonish someone when they have no experience in what they are talking about, because they "read the books".

That being said, no we didn't print any pictures, although it would be nice to have. I'm not sure if their equipment is capable but I will find out if I decide to have another, I'm sure other people would be as interested as I am. If she is gravid it happened in the past couple of weeks, she shed and the male is either taking a very long break or is done. I have a feeling though that I will have to wait until next year for a successful breeding with her. That is not too bad because it gives me time to maybe get a motley, hopefully one het for albino.

By the way, her boyfriend is an 04 ghost produced by Linda Hedgpeth. If you will go to her website I think you will find that she has performed several ultrasounds on her gravid boas. Maybe you should send her a copy of that book you have. Cheers!
 
Heath, although I do agree with you that there is no harm in carefully transporting gravid boas, I do have to call you on one thing. Linda had a veterinarian come to her house to take those ultrasounds, she did not transport them.

Thanks, Chris
 
My apologies. I should have researched a little more. If she is gravid, which I'm pretty sure she is not, it is very recent and she was handled very carefully. Thank you Chris for correcting me.
 
You run that nail in with one whack :rofl:
Its getting to the point,that you can almost post URL's of the web-pages they quote word for word.
Buwahahahaaaa !

Best Of Luck Brah'

M/


<sniped>
heathn said:
I understand you didn't mean any harm, but there are way too many people quick to admonish someone when they have no experience in what they are talking about, because they "read the books".
Click to expand...
 
Heh, well like I said, everyone's got their own point of view about it. What I've read (not just books, a lot of forums with quite a few longtime breeders) would make me nervous about handling a gravid female.

But you're right, I can't say from my own experience yet. And most of what I've read HASN'T actually mentioned what could happen if you handle a gravid female, or described a premature birth or whatever after handling... just that it's not a good idea. Anyone actually witnessed a poor birthing or outcome due to handling? I'm sure it's just one of those 'better safe than sorry' pieces of advice.

I won't be trying to handle my possibly gravid female - first because I'm a newbie at breeding and a bit nervous about it, but secondly because the snake in question turned from a sweetheart to a really.. um.. grumpy snake after breeding, and I'd rather not have an armful of bloody holes.

Well, hopefully your female is gravid even if she's not showing signs yet. Good luck!
 
Thank you Lauren for the good luck and I honestly wish you the best of luck with your breeding. Who knows, we may be trading babies one day in the near future!
 
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