I'm Confused - Breeding Cycle Question

[scutechute]

So i just want to make sure i understand all this correct. I know this is real basic stuff, but I'm having a real hard time putting it all together for some reason.

These are the pages i've been reading the most.
http://www.southernxreptiles.com/RA%...ngPythons1.htm
http://www.8ballpythons.com/journal/...ngcalendar.htm
http://www.ballpythons.ca/gallery/breeding.html

Going off of 8ballpythons breeding calendar (the middle link) - i understand the august through january. basically you let the snakes lock up a bunch and drop the temperatures. February confuses me because of the F word - Follicles.

My understanding, correct me because i think i'm wrong, is this -
Around Novermber follicles start out in the ovaries. I'm guessing it's the females natural responses to the lowering temps and the mating(???). By Jan of Feb follicles grow to become almost the size of eggs and can be felt with an exprienced hand (???)
Follicles then move on to the body cavity in a process called ovulation which usually happens sometime around march when the temps are starting to go back up. Once in the body cavity, they get fertilized, becoming eggs - and then sometime around april they pop out and the "eggs are layed."

1) Does the mating early on (in Nov.) do anything to help fertilize the eggs or is that just to trigger changes in the female? i may be confused, but it sounds like "locking up" occurs from Nov - Feb or March. That sounds like a lot of locking up, and that's a pretty big window. Is there a "best time" to let them go at it?

2) Is it possible for a female to develope follicles and ovulate without being with a male? If so, what happens to the unfertilized follicles? More specifically, do they come out as slugs or are they re-absorbed? Is this what slugs are? or are slugs the "bad apples" in a clutch of otherwise good eggs?

3) Longer question:
I have three female snakes, a corn(3 yrs old), a ball(2 yrs old), and a garter snake (4 yrs old).

My corn, an otherwise great feeder, went through a weird, very restless hunger strike. It was from 11/07 - 1/08 - about two months. I had thought it was breeding cycle-related but i never really figured it out and she got over it.

My garter snake was bred 2 years ago. Last year, and again 2 wks ago, she popped out about 7 yellow jellybean looking things i'm guessing are slugs. Does this have anything to do with her having been bred and my corn and ball never being with a male? Will my corn do this if she's "cooled" during the winter.

I'm not planning on breeding anytime soon, but eventually i would like to. I just want to understand this topic a little better - i get a bit confused when reading some threads.

I appreciate any help clearing this up for me! And i hope all my questions make sense.

Thank you

[JD Constriction]

I'm reiterating some of what's in the Barker's book so keep in mind that's the best source for this info (my memory is only as good as what happend 10 minutes ago )

Basically there are 4 shed cycles for ball pythons.

The first shed is the development shed.....they begin to develop follicles. This happens whenever the female's body triggers it....could be she just wanted it to happen...could be due to the temp drops. Etc.

The next shed I'm not sure exactly what pivital point it is in the cycle but it furthers the growth of the folicles.

The 3rd shed is the pre-ovulation shed. This is where you will start to see alot of building in the female and eventually ovulation. Ovulation is where the folicles decend into the ovum ducts and become fertilized with the retained sperm from all the mating that took place previously....this is where the folicles become eggs.

Finally the 4th shed is the prelay shed where the female is officially carrying eggs and will lay them within about 30 days from the 4th shed.

Slugs are the result of prematurely ovulated folicles. Basically folicles develop asynchronously (independently of one another) so one can be further developed than another. When premature ovulation happens the folicles ovulated too quickly are the ones that become slugs...the others that are farther along move on to become eggs. This is why you get clutches with a mixture of eggs and slugs.

Top reasons for premature ovulation in that 3rd shed cycle:
Handling/palpating before ovulation
Feeding before ovulation
Temps above 82 degrees before ovulation

Again this is what I recall from reading Barker's book and from conversations I've had with Tracy. I'd highly suggest getting it. A great read and TONS of great info from 2 very prestegious and knowledgable people.

Hope that helps!

[scutechute]

Thank you for the recommendation. i'll check it out!