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Phil

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Hello. This question is for anyone who has bred common boas (aka Columbians, aka Columbian Red-tails, etc.). I know that it is difficult to pinpoint the date it actually "happened", but to the best of your knowledge what is the longest gestation period you've experienced? Most of my resources seem to indicate eight months as the outer limit. I'm getting old and my memory ain't what it use to be, but it seems to me that somewhere a long time ago I came across something that said ten months is the maximum, and that I may have heard of even longer periods. Just curious to know what you've experienced.

Thanks & God bless,
Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics
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:)
 
Hey Phil, I have had one female go ten months from the first witnessed breeding until she dropped. She was housed with the male the whole time so I can't say for certain that the first time we saw them going at it was the time that knocked her up but I do know it was ten months until we had babies. She was a big female, close to ten feet and had, I think 28 or 30 really large babies.
 
The longest gestation I have seen was 7 months with my first litter. The books say 105days after Post ovulation shed is average, and I think 123 days from the actual ovulation. Mine ovulated at around Christmas, and the male was pulled out. She dropped around the second week of July. The babies were very large for newborns, so it seems they were in the cooker a little longer than they needed to bake.
 
In my OPININION a boa going 7 months past post ovulation shed should be impossible. It would be the equivalent of a woman being pregnant for a year and a half, I do not pretend to know everything though. Is it possible that the swelling you saw in December was pre ov swell? I have had boas with considerable preovulation swell, that looked like an ovulation. Most animals have a fairly standard gestation period, it may vary a little. Some of the older books do put gestation down as lasting up to 8 mos, but I think that had more to do with people not understanding cycles that well. Most breeders will tell you that about 105 after shed. That can vary 10 days one way or the other. Most breeders are pretty busy right now, that is probably why the question was missed. Craig Kade
 
I would agree that the analogy was stretching it, but I think if you would get more imput from breeders they would probably give similar answers. I have books that give 7 mos being normal, I do not think I am smarter then the people that wrote the books, but I do think a lot has been learned since the books were written. I can see someone mistaking preovulation swell with ovulation, that could add atleast a month to your timetable. As far as the longest post ovulation shed to birth that I have heard of was 128 days. I am sure that longer have happened, but when one of mine went 119 days I was freaking out. One final note, I did not mean to discredit Dave, and I am glad he responded to the post. I just feel that he may have mistaken something else for ovulation. Again this is my opinion. As for wilomn, it is not unusual for the pair to copulate for several months before ovulation, that is why his account sounded 100% normal. Great question though, and I hope I have not offended anyone. Craig Kade
 
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