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Gravid female?

M

MTL Reptile

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well this was my first year that i began my breeding projects with BPs. i have a gravid female (thought was gravid) right now. i followed all the procedures with the ovulation and introducing the male. well she was nice and fat and went through the pre lay shed. its been about a month since the shed and i took a good look at her today, and she doesnt look gravid anymore.... she does not have the bulge in her body anymore. i tried to feel for eggs but its difficult to feel for them. i looked around the tank (75 Gal) for eggs but couldnt find anything. she is not eating and is seeking out the hottest spot in the tank. i have a nest box which she is in alot. but still no eggs. is it normal for the female to look a little skinnier when she is far along her pregnancy? or am i missing something? any other help would be great. thank you

andrew
 
Andrew, although I have yet to produce ball pythons myself yet. I am literally surrounded by people that breed them, and It is my understanding that when she gets all fat like you described, and she looks like she swallowed a nerf football. Is not her actually being pregnant or "gravid". Rather, her ovulating. Which is the best time to get that male in there with her. After which you should see them "lock up" many times. Only then, will you progress in to the "gestation" period. In which your ball python will start to produce th eggs.

A gravid female looks way different than a female with eggs. A female that is ovulating will look like one big bulge. (like they swallowed a nerf football)

And a female "with eggs", you'll see a longer area that seems swollen with waves between eggs. (i.e. how people count eggs)

Hope this is helpfull! And like I said, I have yet to produce eggs of my own. But I work for a reptile company. So, I've seen it all before.

Dont forget to give + karma if you think I gave you good info! :)
 
It's much easier to palpate for eggs before ovulation. After ovulation the eggs become much softer, making it harder to feel them. After you noticed the "swell", did she shed fairly soon? If so, how long has it been since she shed?
 
Mile_High_Dragons said:
Andrew, although I have yet to produce ball pythons myself yet. I am literally surrounded by people that breed them, and It is my understanding that when she gets all fat like you described, and she looks like she swallowed a nerf football. Is not her actually being pregnant or "gravid". Rather, her ovulating. Which is the best time to get that male in there with her. After which you should see them "lock up" many times. Only then, will you progress in to the "gestation" period. In which your ball python will start to produce th eggs.

A gravid female looks way different than a female with eggs. A female that is ovulating will look like one big bulge. (like they swallowed a nerf football)

And a female "with eggs", you'll see a longer area that seems swollen with waves between eggs. (i.e. how people count eggs)

Hope this is helpfull! And like I said, I have yet to produce eggs of my own. But I work for a reptile company. So, I've seen it all before.

Dont forget to give + karma if you think I gave you good info! :)
Click to expand...
Your post is full of WRONG, please give advise on things you have actually experienced, hearsay makes you look silly and giving poor information is much worse than giving none at all....

Example:
A gravid female looks way different than a female with eggs.
Click to expand...
A gravid female IS a female with eggs.

It is my understanding that when she gets all fat like you described, and she looks like she swallowed a nerf football. Is not her actually being pregnant or "gravid". Rather, her ovulating. Which is the best time to get that male in there with her.
Click to expand...
Entering a female during ovulation is the best time?
The female ovulating is her fertilizing the eggs with the sperm she's retained, there is no reason to enter a male during or after an ovulation.

I know your trying to help, and I'm not trying to be harsh too here but there is far too much wrong information out there being spread by people who haven't "been there and done that"
 
i kept her with the male for almost the entire time she was ovulating. she refuses to eat now and i always active. she shed about 30 days ago. i saw her lock with the male more then 10 times. i dont see how she could have re absorbed the eggs??..... is there a way to tell if she is still pregnant or not, or what i can do? i did exactly as people have told me to do to try to breed balls but nothing seems to be working. i cant seem to get this right!
 
MTL Reptile said:
i kept her with the male for almost the entire time she was ovulating. she refuses to eat now and i always active. she shed about 30 days ago. i saw her lock with the male more then 10 times. i dont see how she could have re absorbed the eggs??..... is there a way to tell if she is still pregnant or not, or what i can do? i did exactly as people have told me to do to try to breed balls but nothing seems to be working. i cant seem to get this right!
Click to expand...

Don't sweat it TOO bad. They know when we're waiting and hold onto those eggs for as long as they can!--lol

If the eggs were fertilized, they shouldn't be reabsorbed (although I swear that it happened to one of my females last year!!:angry:). If she is not eating, that is a good sign, too. Just keep an eye on her, and continue to offer food as you normally would. I've had a female eat up to less that 2 weeks before dropping her clutch. Just keep the meals smaller than normal, just in case she is gravid.
 
Another thing is that females have rarely ever read the manual. While you normally see eggs around day 30, its not terribly unusual for them to take longer to lay. Keep and eye on her.
 
Mile_High_Dragons said:
Wow, I was only trying to help, you people give me bad karma? Not cool.
Click to expand...
In the future you might want to post about actual knowledge you've learned from actually doing something, hearsay isn't what people want when they ask for advise.

If you asked for advise and got someone who had never gone through it but was giving you advise that was incorrect how would you feel?

*I gave you good Karma ;) *
 
I would just keep an eye on her I had my first clutch just a few days ago and she was 12 days late from the prescribed 30 days after post ovulation shedding.
I really don't think they can read, :shrug01: whodathunkit!
 
Like everyone else said, don't sweat it too bad. Depending on your temps in her cage she could take longer to lay. Lower temps = longer time to wait. Keep us posted! I've heard of females going close to 50 days before dropping a clutch.
 
MTL Reptile said:
i kept her with the male for almost the entire time she was ovulating. she refuses to eat now and i always active. she shed about 30 days ago. i saw her lock with the male more then 10 times. i dont see how she could have re absorbed the eggs??..... is there a way to tell if she is still pregnant or not, or what i can do? i did exactly as people have told me to do to try to breed balls but nothing seems to be working. i cant seem to get this right!
Click to expand...

I'm sure you probably already know this, but I didn't see it discussed; is your male producing sperm plugs? It sounds like she reabsorbed from not being fertilized but the possiblities are endless. I think I'm going through the same thing right now but she just had her prelay shed a couple days ago. He's must have had over 15 locks with her this season and she hasn't ate since they were first introduced in January.

How old are they and what do they weigh?
 
the male is a 07 and it about 1100 grams. the female is a 08 and is 1500 grams. both empty. the female is seeking out hot spots all the time. she used to be a beast when eating!! i feed outside the cage. as soon as i put her in her feeding box, she is striking randomly and wont stop until she gets what she wants. but when you dont have her in her feed box, she is such a sweet heart. she is the only snake i have who actually let me pet them on their head.
she used to be my best eater but ever since i thought she was gravid, game over. no interest.
how can i check the male for sperm plugs and what do they look like? thank you
andrew
 
They sound mature enough.

To check for plugs, you can pop the male and he will produce a cheese like substance at the hemipenes. There are videos on YouTube that can probably describe it better.
 
believe it or not..... the female that i was started the thread on, just laid 5 good eggs! i had no idea she still had them! it has been about a month and a half since i last responded about her, i thought for sure she re- absorbed the eggs! she went through 2 sheds after she ovulated..... is this normal??? she did not show any signs of laying eggs and was even taken to a school for a elementary school presentation!! i feel so horrible i did that to her but i would have never even considered putting her through stress if i thought she was still gravid. this female definately did not play by the books on this clutch! is this a common thing to happen? or more of a " whoa that is weeeiirrdddd" kinda thing?
the eggs all looked good but when i picked them up, they were cool/cold. is this common or was i too late to get the eggs?
thanks for the help everybody and lets hope all my breeding projects wont be like this one!
 
MTL Reptile said:
believe it or not..... the female that i was started the thread on, just laid 5 good eggs! i had no idea she still had them! it has been about a month and a half since i last responded about her, i thought for sure she re- absorbed the eggs! she went through 2 sheds after she ovulated..... is this normal??? she did not show any signs of laying eggs and was even taken to a school for a elementary school presentation!! i feel so horrible i did that to her but i would have never even considered putting her through stress if i thought she was still gravid. this female definately did not play by the books on this clutch! is this a common thing to happen? or more of a " whoa that is weeeiirrdddd" kinda thing?
the eggs all looked good but when i picked them up, they were cool/cold. is this common or was i too late to get the eggs?
thanks for the help everybody and lets hope all my breeding projects wont be like this one!
Click to expand...

The eggs should be fine - just get them into an incubator. Depending on the temperature she was kept at during her term it could be perfectly normal that it took her so long. A female sitting at a higher temp will have a shorter pregnancy and vise versa. I just had a female go 42 days after pre-lay and she was at around 88F. Some girls are just different ;) Good luck with the eggs!

BTW - from what I've gathered they cannot resorb eggs - they can resorb follicles (before ovulation) but after ovulation she WILL produce something... Whether those are slugs or eggs, depends.
 
thank you abby! if i would have known they could not reabsorb eggs, i would never have put her through all that stress. she is very skinny now to the point where she looks almost sick. any advice to get her back up to weight?
 
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