Why is my female not laying or eating?

I started breeding one of my females last november and she didnt take until late this year. she was due about 2-3 weeks ago but still isnt laying. she also has been refusing meals since the begginning of this year. i know she is gravid due to her being very thick about halfway down her body to tail. should i be worried or does this happen often? also is there any tricks to get her to eat before she does lay? :confusd: thanks!

Takes time be patient.she possibly could reasorb if you did not see a positive OV.

pics would help.

Do you know how to palpate?

sorry i cannot upload pics right now due to my computer usb port breaking. and no i dont know how to palpate im am new to this hobby. also if she hasnt eaten in 8+ months wouldnt she be super skinny? about halfway down her body it gets pretty round until her tail. she has been coiling around the heat and barely moves from there unless handled for the past month. i am worried since she hasnt eaten in so long when she does lay she wont make it. :(

She would be pretty skinny at this point, I just had a female lay eggs 2 months ago after being off feed for 6 months.
She was very skinny and had me worried also, but she finally started eating for me last week and has taken 3 meals so I'm feeling much better now.
Without pics it's difficult to say what's going on...:(

these are some crappy phone pics but you can definately tell she is swollen halfway down.


http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/v...#1349279463131

It doesn't show any pics on the link...

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/brow...mageuser=26032

lets see if this works. :please:

Can you take a picture of her vertically? Like hold her up and have her dangle. It'll give us a better prospective of how large she is.

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http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/show...3&userid=26032

its an awful phone pic but you can kinda see how big she is. :oops:

Did you notice the POS? Remember its 27 days (+/-) after that shed. If she´s sitting in the hot spot, then she´s cooking them, dont worry...she knows best.

It's very hard to see anything in those pics, but I'd agree she is gravid. How are you calculating her "due" date? Did you witness the ovy?

sorry for the crappy pics. its all i can get with my phone right now. i based her due date on pre lay shed and ovy but she is 2-3 weeks late. i was trying to figure out if it was because she hasnt eaten in 8+ months or she is just late? my other female was late by about a week only and unfortantely her clutch didnt make it. :(

I wouldn't put too much stock into specific lay dates. Mine usually go well into 40 days + post ovy shed. Just keep checking in on her daily, and one morning you'll see her sitting on a clutch of eggs.

Thank you everyone for your great answers. im looking forward to my first ever clutch to survive and thrive. have a great day! :)