Prelay Shed

[Kevin_Hornby]

We have a very large girl (probly close to 3000 grams) that we paired with our male spider on the 11th. We got the girl just over a month ago and we were told that she had shed about 2 weeks prior to that. She has now gone into a shed again, is it possible that this is her prelay shed? (She has eaten 2 large rats since we got her) How often would a ball this size shed? Is there any way to tell if this is actually a prelay shed?

Thank you,
Kevin

[kc261]

I guess you decided to skip QT?

Have you seen an ovulation? That should occur before the pre-lay shed.

Do you have any idea what was going on with this girl before you got her? Was she cooled? Bred? Showing any signs of developing behavior such as bowl wrapping or glowing?

Also, from what I've read, it would be unusual for your girl to still be eating, especially eating such big meals, if she is that far along in the process.

[Kevin_Hornby]

Yes we cut short the quarantine because I know the person we got her from and am decently familiar with the snake. No we have no seen an ovulation, but i'm not exactly sure what to look for she is huge and many pictures i've seen of ovulations look like she does normally. She has never been bred before, and she was always kept around the same temp, although it being winter it probly cooled down since she was just kept with a heat light. As for the meals, trust me those are not big meals for this snake. I'm sure she could eat our 12 week old husky if she wanted to, like I said she's at least 3000 grams empty (she doesn't fit on my small scale so I had to weigh her with myself on the bathroom scale). She hasn't shed her skin yet, she just turned blue on saturday, but she has started to coil around her waterbowl a bit.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin_Hornby]

Anyone have any thoughts?

[CruelHerbie]

When she coils around her waterbowl are you able to see any bumps in her belly?

[Kevin_Hornby]

Nope can't see any lumps, but i'm not sure if I would be able to, I can't even wrap my hand around her.