Opinions on this girl...

So most of you know I've been DYING for my girls to ovulate because I've got a serious case of egg fever. I was talking to Corey (coreydelong) about my breeding projects and we were talking about my girls that I'm waiting on ovies from. He was asking a little bit about them and I was relaying my behaviors to him. He is under the impression that she's about 1-2 weeks away form laying. Here's a summary of what I said

• over the last 4-5 days, she's been using her newspaper bedding as a hide (something I've NEVER seen her do) in this position that she's in in the picture below. I actually took this picture tonight.
• She was pounding rats until 3/28 (her last meal) and has since refused weekly meals - however, I didn't think to much about it since the other female I have breeding has been hit and miss on food since January and she's currently building
• I've been pairing her exclusively to a 570g male trying to get him to breed but I've not witnessed any locks. I originally just talked it up to him being too young. He's got the plugs but doesn't know what to do (I've even tried putting another male's shed in with him and the female). However, I'm currently running an experiment since it could be that the little male IS ready to breed and that my female actually ovulated and I missed it...which would explain why I've not seen any locks between the pair. I've put this male in with the other female (to see if they lock) and I've placed my little stud muffin (who locks with the girls within 30min-hour usually) with the normal female. So far (he's been in there 2 hours or so), not locked up.
• She has shed monthly for me (1/4, 2/4, 3/18, and 4/28)
• She has STOPPED bowl wrapping and is parked exclusively on the hot side for about 6-8 weeks now

I told another buddy about my conversation with Corey and showed him the picture and he said that was typical pre-lay behavior. Then, I got curious and posted this on the ball python group on facebook and several people commented on how huge she was and one actually said she's got a female about 2 weeks away from laying that looks just like my girl. So, what are your thoughts? I was still thinking she hadn't ovied and now I'm beginning to wonder if I just missed it and she's actually due to lay at the end of the month (based on her last shed being 4/28).

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1016/img08071f.jpg

I would need to see a pic of her stretched out a little more, but I'd say your girl is glowing (pre-ovy), not gravid. She doesn't quite have the triangular spine that she should if she was only a week from laying, and her head looks insanely blushed out/glowing (unless she usually looks like that).

She's still glowing which was why I was suprised people were saying she was so close to laying. Here's a picture I took this morning (pardon the mess...my male decided to unload in there :/ )

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/2822/img08081x.jpg

If she's not curled up in that coil like in the other picture, she's laying like this. Here's another picture of her head to show that she does have some blushing, just not quite as much.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8451/23630686.jpg

She might not have the usual triangular back that most gravids have but I think she is already past ovulation. I think she is gravid. She is too uniformly pudgy from the middle to the tail. Usually girls that are glowing don't have that pudginess yet. And she is displaying that typical gravid female coil with her tail in the center.

Going by just the pictures alone, I'd say that looks promising! Shes a BIG girl, maybe close to OV or just missed it...? Lookin like some tail suck there..

And that little "non-poop" as I call it. Females usually squeeze out a little one like that a few weeks before laying.

Goodluck and hope to see an update!


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Originally Posted by charlene.payne

She might not have the usual triangular back that most gravids have but I think she is already past ovulation. I think she is gravid. She is too uniformly pudgy from the middle to the tail. Usually girls that are glowing don't have that pudginess yet. And she is displaying that typical gravid female coil with her tail in the center.

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She's definitely a THICK girl. I've noticed her body mass increase and she's been pretty uniformly thick for awhile. And that typical coil was what had a lot of people saying she was well past ovulation. That's why I started asking people about her. I've thankfully had the incubator running since February and temps have been perfect since then, but I mainly just wanted to be prepared. She's a house favorite so if she ended up having problems laying, I wanted to be able to identify them early...and being able to do that means I needed to know a "due date" for her.

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Originally Posted by BCBallPythons

Going by just the pictures alone, I'd say that looks promising! Shes a BIG girl, maybe close to OV or just missed it...? Lookin like some tail suck there..

And that little "non-poop" as I call it. Females usually squeeze out a little one like that a few weeks before laying.

Goodluck and hope to see an update!

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If that's "tail suck" then she's had that for WEEKS. I've been staring at her tail for what seems like forever. I thought it would get a little more pointy than that. I guess I started getting really observant pretty late in the game. If those little "non-poops" are from her, then I don't mind them so much ;) BTW: She's already gotten her paper changed so no more dirty tub! I hate dirty tubs.

If she does end up laying, you can bet there will be an update. Gotta love first clutches! It'll be a surprise "who's your daddy" clutch. She was bred to a black pastel and a lesser (though I'm expecting the lesser to father the whole clutch) and I had a pewter in there for about 4 weeks (not 4 whole weeks, but 4 weeks worth of pairings) but I never witnessed any locks and if she had ovulated, then he wouldn't have done anything anyway.

I keep in contact with her breeder since she's a friend of mine and local to me. She's really happy that this girl is looking like she's going to lay eggs for me. I sent her the same pictures and she's pretty certainly I'm getting eggs here soon. Time till well, I suppose!

You will know if she is getting ready to lay because she will shift the eggs down towards her vent. What space is there now, will balloon up. I have a female that I am waiting on to shift eggs. She is due anyday now. I missed her ovulation and prelay shed so its a waiting game on her...

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Originally Posted by charlene.payne

You will know if she is getting ready to lay because she will shift the eggs down towards her vent. What space is there now, will balloon up. I have a female that I am waiting on to shift eggs. She is due anyday now. I missed her ovulation and prelay shed so its a waiting game on her...

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Yeah, I'm waiting on that egg adjustment stage. If she is, in fact, getting ready to lay, her "due date" is 5/28 (30 days after POS). I'm going out of town on 6/2 so I hope she either lays before then or until I get home on 6/10. If she doesn't lay I'll certainly set her up with a humid tub so hopefully she can keep an eye on her eggs for a few days for me.

Looks like she is glowing so I would say no ovy yet. Have you tried to palpate her? That is the best way to determine where she is in the process. I say she is still building but you never know they dont play by the rules as it is.

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Originally Posted by joebad976

Looks like she is glowing so I would say no ovy yet. Have you tried to palpate her? That is the best way to determine where she is in the process. I say she is still building but you never know they dont play by the rules as it is.

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I used to be able to feel her follicles really well and now I'm not sure if I feel them anymore. I'm very inexperienced so I'm not sure if it's just inexperience on my part of if there just aren't any follicles to feel. The other female has nickel sized follicles and I can feel hers REALLY well.