Wrapped around waterbowl.......opinons please?

hello,ive been seeing this girl getting off the heat and doing this a few times....hot side is 90 under her hide/cool side where water bowl is hangs around 80....shes 3yrs old and about 1400 gr. thanks for any insite.....apparently i cant post a pic unless its hosted somewhere but she is basically coiled snugly around her waterbowl.

So, the first question is... have you bred her?

And here are the instructions for posting pics... just in case you haven't found this yet.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...with-pictures)

I'm also wondering if you have bred her. If yes, it is probably a developing behavior (meaning she is building follicles). If she hasn't ben bred it isn't an indication of a problem or anything like that.

Wrapping water bowls or laying inverted are signs that your snake's belly feels uncomfortable. This will usually be seen in a female that's developing follicles or ovulating, however I've also seen it in males after a particularly large meal. The best thing to do is just keep an eye on her.

thanks for taking the time to give your input.....i have not bred her, and she has skipped a couple of meals around the time we got a couple of thunderstorms and some cooler weather she started spending more time around the bowl.....i know its not too hot,temps are strictly monitored with a laser temp gun....she wouldnt be developing follicles without being with a male would she?

As far as I know, a mature enough female will always develop follicles. Its up to nature or the breeder if they get fertilized. Actually its not even that easy. She can lock with a male and choose to hold onto the sperm for a while if she wants. She's probly building follicles. Post a pic tho. We love pics here!

Yes she could develop follicles, but if not bred she'd just resorb them again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Yes she could develop follicles, but if not bred she'd just resorb them again.

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He´s right. Females in breeding size once a year will develop follicles up to 30mm, that´s when they ovulate only if they´ve been bred, if not she´ll reabsorb them. Normal behavior for her while developing follicles is to wrapp around the waterbowl, stop feeding, seek the cooler side of the enclouser, lay inverted. She might do all, or some of this. Keep offering once a week, but she´ll probably be off food like a couple of months and it is ok. ;)

PS: If you find a boyfriend, you might get eggs.

Or she's parthenogenetic. Meaning she's essentially a hermaphrodite... So if you ever get babies let us know. It's extremely rare and I would be enlightened to see a parthenogenetic ball python. I know I haven't yet

Females ovulate when the follicles are about 44mm or the size of a golf ball and the correct term is absorb, they do not re-absorb unless they have done it before.

Wrapping the water bowl is usually one of two things, the snake is either too hot in it's enclosure or it's cooling itself because it's growing follicles.