egg laying question

hey all, i read in a different post that the egg-laying didnt happen for 36 hours and everyone was like omg! go to a doctor .....i plan to breed next year and i need to understand.....how long should it take from them locking to her producing visually seeing the eggs? :eek: :confused:

I edited the title of your thread so that you are more likely to get an answer to your question. There's no need to curse (even obliquely by using achronyms) in a thread title for an ordinary question.

About a few months. You start putting them together in November and keep breeding them until April or when you see eggs, which should be around Feb- May.

This is a VERY helpful pictorial... http://ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

Every female is going to be different (though an individual will normally lay about the same time of year.) You may have a single lock-up in November, and not get eggs from that female until July, or even later (happened to us this past season :D). It all depends on the follicular development in the female. If she feels conditions aren't right for one reason or another (not enough contact with a male, temps not right, not enough fat reserves etc.), she will slow down or even stop developing her follicles. Once follicles reach a certain size (they feel like marbles or larger when you palpate), she will normally continue developing without contact from a male, and ovulate. You can't plan on eggs from when you observe lock-ups, but you can get a feel for how close she is to ovulation by palpating her. You can also count down the days from ovulation to eggs (~45 days) if you catch the ovulation that is. For a general time table, look at Adam's breeding calander but there are always going to be exceptions to the rule. Hope this helps.

-Evan