Checking on the Lovebirds

I've been pairing up my normal female and 100% het. Pied male for a while now. The female has shed twice, both are eating when offered, but I've only actually seen one lock. Every time I clean, there are trails left by Akina, the female. The female is not showing any signs of ovulation or of being gravid. Any thoughts? I'm not cooling either. We just had some snow the other day, but still I'm not seeing anything. I only visit them once a day to give every one fresh water, so maybe they are doing the nasty when I'm not there.

Either way, I need to get my incubator built. I'll be ordering flexwatt this month or next month. :)

That begs a good question. Do most lock-up occur at night or during the day. Seems to me that a nocturnal snake like a BP would get in the mood after dark. Any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by Slim

That begs a good question. Do most lock-up occur at night or during the day. Seems to me that a nocturnal snake like a BP would get in the mood after dark. Any thoughts?

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That's an interesting thought. I wonder.

I believe the first lock I saw was during the day and I've heard of people catching locks during the day as well. I check my snakes either in the afternoon or late at night anyway. They are due to be seperated tonight so everyone can have a nice meal. :)

I guess it could be hard to tell when a lock-up started, since the amount of time they will be locked up is so variable.

Jay, good luck with your effort this season!

My experience has been that they "lock up" more at night. In that I put them together and don't see anything during the day but the next morning I see them locked up.

It's probably still early to see ovulation or much for signs but does depend on what shed in the cycle she's on.

I'm in the midwest and most all of my breeder females have shed recently or are in a shed currently over the past 2 weeks. I'm speculating that this is shed 2 of the 4 shed cycle but could be off (some females could be in #1). I'm starting to see a slight "glow" in some in their appearance but their behavior seems pretty normal otherwise.

Here is a good "how to" with pics of what to look for. Hope that helps!

http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

I would think that its safe to say that they are doing dirty when your not around

I did notice she is a bit brighter than normal, even after a shed. Her colors were more chocolate brown and coffee colored rather than the "just brown" she is normally. I'll get a picture of her tomorrow.

mine usually lock up at night or super early in the morning and stay locked until mid to late afternoon, sometimes longer. but like others have said, they could be doing their thing and you just happen to keep missing them, you could always just check on them a little more often if ya want to catch them at something ;)