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Possible gravid female... What to do???

L

londontattoos

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Hi everyone, I bought a 1.2 trio of normal red tails, the guy I bought them from said the larger(6.5-7ft) female is possibly gravid; by a hypo male he owned. I have had her for 26-27 days, I don't know when she was put with the male, she has eaten very well, two large rats since I got her, and I have noticed her girth has gotten quite large.

I am nervous about what I should do, what things should I do to make her comfortable, what is good substrate, lighting, etc?

I had bought a gravid female once before, did not even know she was, her whole litter was premature, with 4 stills. The worst part I lost her about 3 weeks later from unknown causes. I don't want this to happen again, so I was wanting to know some things I need to do to make this a successful litter(if she is even pregnant).

Thank you!!!
 
Hi Rachel
This is only my second season breeding boa's,but i'll give you a bit of useful info.
Keep her alone in her cage.Some people cover the front of the cage to give her more privacy. Keep the hot spot at about 88-92,i run mine at about 89ish in the cage.Her ambient temps can stay the same,around 82-85. Thats what i run and have not had any Ri's since owning boa's.

Keep the humidity about 60% and make sure she has clean water all the time. I keep mine on paper.Easy to clean,cheap,and no worries about ingesting bark or mulch. And no mites either.

Boa's do not need direct light. Keep her out of light while gravid,she wants peace and quite.Keep in mind where boa's come from and live.Mostly in holes,dark and kinda moist.

If she is eating 2 lg rats i would only give her 1 and not too often. Usually when gravid they dont eat much if at all. I had 1 female eat once this season so far and she is about to drop.
Toward the end(2/3 weeks) you should not feed at all.I know you dont know when she possibly mated,so thats gonna be hard to do.But you can offer her 1 every couple weeks and see if she continues to eat.If hse does,its a possibility she is not gravid.
Can you post pics of her?

Dont handle her. If you think she is gravid and she shows signs of being gravid- sitting on the heat all the time- not eating much and good sweeling in the belly area,get ready for babies just in case,this way you dont have to run around trying to get everything together the day she delivers.
You can wait,but at least get a big tote tub and a heat pad and thermostat to put the babies in after cleaning them until you can set up a baby rack.

There are way more qualified people on here that will chime in i hope, and make any corrections that need be.
I just wanted to get you started and try to get this thread going for you.
There are some great people on here and they will help along the way.
Good luck
 
I think you've been given good advice. To familiarize yourself with what to expect, you may want to read this article. It mainly is about breeding but talks about birth and babies as well
http://www.theboaphile.com/article_files/1.html

If she does give birth and you have any problems or concerns, please let us know and we'll do what we can to help. You'll probably want to think about getting a baby rack set up just in case. If you can post some pics of the possible mom to be from various angles, we may be able to tell if she is gravid.

I remove mom and put her in a new tank and then I leave the babies where they are born until they have moved off from the birth site. Then I keep them all together in a large tub/tank on paper towels with a large shallow water dish. I keep them like that until they shed, then they get moved into their own separate tubs and a few days after shedding I offer the first meal.

good luck.
 
Thank you so much!! I don't know how to post pictures just yet, I'm working on my cell phone, and I don't have access to a computer. I will try to post on a website or something to post links. I am having to switch all my other snakes around to make room for her by herself. I never thought she was pregnant, but she was sleeping with her side up. I I remember my previous girl doing that. I will try my hardest to get the photos up.

Thank you again for all the support!!
 
Your more then welcome. As April has said,if you need to know anything or have any problems,theres lots of knowledgeable people on here that would be more then happy to answer your questions.
 
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