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.

Does she feel squishy like water balloon?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by AJs Snake House

Does she feel squishy like water balloon?

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Nope, she's pretty firm.

Prior to ovulation follicles are easier to identify. IMO, once a female ovys I have found it to be a bit more difficult to feel and if you can feel the eggs they do kind of feel like water ballons. As she gets closer to laying you should be able to hold her up and literally count the eggs in her belly. Give that a try. Post a pic of her belly while you are holding her up letting her bottom drape down.

You have to remember that have zero experience with this. Reading about what something should look like or feel like is different then experiencing/witnessing it. What I'm seeing/feeling could be misrepresented. Like with the "feeling hard". Her ribs are distended and firm, but her belly is soft and squishy. When i palpate her, what I'm feeling is on her lower body, not where follicles would be. As for hanging her down, I don't feel comfortable doing that. I've already poked and prided on her and the last thing I want to so is hurt her.

I guess I'm just gone to keep a close eye on her. Enough people have said "yeah, I think she's going to lay" that it has me on high alert. It's very possible that she ovulated around April 11 when I was out of town delivering a horse baby. I was gone for 2 days.

I hope you get a good clutch of eggs here soon. lol She's definetly made you wait long enough. :P

Btw: my phone's autocorrect butchered my post. So sorry for the spelling errors D:

Hmm, if I had to guess I would say still building as well.

I'm just going to keep a close eye on her. I've got about 50-60% of people think she'll lay while the other 40% say she's just building. I'll prepare as if she will lay but I won't kick myself if she doesn't. Whatever is going on, there better be no funny business (ovulating or laying eggs) while I'm out of town!

Even though this girl has lain, you can see her eggs, can you also see the sharp triangle thing with her spine? A female in the last stages of preparing to lay will have that sharp triangular spine. Once you see that, you know you have 14 days or less. Usually it's only 7. Or at least it was that way with my 6 females so far. Once the triangle spine appeared, they all laid within two weeks. I am not seeing that with your girl yet.

Gale

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Originally Posted by angllady2

Even though this girl has lain, you can see her eggs, can you also see the sharp triangle thing with her spine? A female in the last stages of preparing to lay will have that sharp triangular spine. Once you see that, you know you have 14 days or less. Usually it's only 7. Or at least it was that way with my 6 females so far. Once the triangle spine appeared, they all laid within two weeks. I am not seeing that with your girl yet.

Gale

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Like I said above, I've read about what to look for, but that doesn't mean I have the skill to actually see it. I'll keep checking on her daily. Hopefully she'll get an obvious triangular spine or egg adjustment...something that is more concrete than what I'm getting now. I'm more worried about me going out of town and missing something.

Adding the [picture to the post above might have helped, huh?

Sometimes I wonder about me. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/IMG_0219.jpg

See if that makes it any easier to tell what I meant. :rolleyes:

Gale

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Originally Posted by angllady2

Adding the [picture to the post above might have helped, huh?

Sometimes I wonder about me. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/IMG_0219.jpg

See if that makes it any easier to tell what I meant. :rolleyes:

Gale

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Haha! it's quite alright. I thought maybe there had been a typo! I see the spine and hopefully she'll show me something like this. I've just been told by several people (including the female's own breeder) that because she's a thick girl. it could be hard to miss some of the "sign" especially since this is my first time trying to visualize them.

The other female I'm breeding is 1600g and a petite girl. Everything is easy to see/feel/etc. with her. Sadly, I think she's going to go after this girl in question.

ALSO. The normal was super pissy last night (not sure if it means anything). She hissed at me long and hard and I've NEVER heard her hiss before.

My girl laid eggs 30 minutes after this video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI2FIgNK3wU

Here is the other virgin girl breeding for me this season. She's very obvious with her signs. She's clearly building. She's got close to quarter sized follicles and looking VERY lumpy today.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/559/img08091.jpg

looks like she's building, you can't miss the Ovy trust me when they say, you'll know it when you see it, also the spine will protrude and looks almost like a tent in her back...

As mentioned before after ovy it's pointless palpating, but during that time you will be able to count the eggs inside her if you hold her up and let her relax and drape down...

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Originally Posted by Peoples

looks like she's building, you can't miss the Ovy trust me when they say, you'll know it when you see it, also the spine will protrude and looks almost like a tent in her back...

As mentioned before after ovy it's pointless palpating, but during that time you will be able to count the eggs inside her if you hold her up and let her relax and drape down...

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The problem with not missing an ovy is IF she has ovulated, then she would have ovulated when I was out of town for a few days so it's very possible I could have missed it (on the normal girl). I also can't feel her follicles anymore. It's very difficult for me when it used to be pretty easy. As for the draping down, I don't feel comfortable doing that with my girls, that's just me though. I don't want to hurt them.

Now the pastel girl has not ovulated and is clearly building. I've got no question about her. My normal girl looked exactly like this months ago. It's the normal I'm getting mixed reviews on. I still think I'm going to watch her and prepare for eggs just in case those that think she will lay are right. If she's not, then I'm already prepared. I'm more concerned about her either laying eggs or ovulating while I'm on vacation. My family thinks I'm crazy because I've already talked about not going on vacation because of timing.

But if you were expecting a baby missing vacation would be fine, why not when your snake is expecting?

I hope whatever happens finds you prepared and happy.

By the way, the thick thing doesn't work when it comes to that triangle back. My biggest girl is as big around as my bicep, and she was so triangular it looked like you'd cut your hand if you ran it along her spine. She gave me 12 perfect eggs 10 days after the triangle appeared.

And just because I can, this is her:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/IMG_0021.jpg

Gale

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Originally Posted by angllady2

But if you were expecting a baby missing vacation would be fine, why not when your snake is expecting?

I hope whatever happens finds you prepared and happy.

By the way, the thick thing doesn't work when it comes to that triangle back. My biggest girl is as big around as my bicep, and she was so triangular it looked like you'd cut your hand if you ran it along her spine. She gave me 12 perfect eggs 10 days after the triangle appeared.

And just because I can, this is her:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...s/IMG_0021.jpg

Gale

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She's gorgeous!

And yes, my family just does not understand my need to be home with my snakes babies when they are expecting! 7 days is a long time to be gone! The person in charge of watching my snakes has no idea what to look for in ovulation or what to do if she sees eggs, so I just feel better saying home.

I thought I would update that after much debate, I had my mother help me "dangle" the normal. We were supporting her as best we could and I see three very distinct lumps in her abdomen. We didn't think to get a picture.

Okay everyone, I thought I would give a little update. I had Tabitha out after I got off work tonight and I see a distinctive swell in her body. I'm about 75% sure this is a "building" swell. It's pretty obvious in person but I did get a few pictures of her tonight on my cell phone. I'm sorry they are not the best pictures. I'm actually quite relieved that she probably won't be laying while I'm away. However, I'm not sure how long it will be until she ovulates. Hopefully she'll hold out until I get back from vacation.

here she is in her tub:

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4721/img08141.jpg

And here are two more of her on the floor. One is a closeup of the "swelling" and the other is a full body.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9343/img08161g.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6851/img08171.JPG