Do female sometimes "slug out" when not bred

K i resently aquired a couple of female breeders, they had apperantly been bred before but the lady lost the male in a divorce I think. 1st one looks good, good weight good tone, the other is real skinny, I was told that she had laid a clutch of slugs a cople months ago, even though the male was long gone. I was just wondering if this is normal, I was kinda under the impression that they reabsorb if not bred. Just a little clearing up would be good. Oh and any suggestions on how to get her weight up without over doing it. she has been here 10 days and i feeder her once on day 4 jsut cause she looks skinny and she eat 2 really fat/bred jumbo mice and am planning to give her 2 more today, I am thinking that 2 smaller mealz a week insead of a biggin once, like I do with my young ones would be best.

i have to feed the same way to my female cuz she's scared to eat anything bigger than large mice.

dont worry about over feeding on mice like that. honestly, in the wild, i dont think a ball python would skip an opp. to eat if she is not hungry she wont eat.

my female is gaining weight after a 2 month fast the same way, off of 2-3 mice a week just depends on wether she decides 2 is enough or if she needs 3-4 she'll take'em

In answer to your title question, I haven't personally seen a female slug out if cycled and not bred, though it certainly would be possible. Though it's clear that ovulation is induced in pythons, exactly what induces it hasn't been clearly studied.

It's also possible that she was bred to the male a long time ago and retained the sperm, but that by the time she ovulated, the sperm was no longer viable.

I once had an imported blood python drop eggs for me nearly two years after I acquired her. She was never once in with a male while in my care ... Because she was sold to me as (and I never doubted that she was) a male. :rolleyes:

I also might recommend switching her onto small rats or at least trying to get big, but not fat, mice into her to get her weight up. I've seen overly-fat mice give snakes diarrhea, which would probably be counterproductive if you're trying to put weight back on her.

thanks for this guys, and ya i am planning on getting ASF into their deit ASAP, In fact i am supose to pick up 2 trios this weekend so i can sarted breeding my own. Real rats are sadly illegal here, live anyway.