oh great here we go.

So I went to town and asked my husband if he would check my BPs for me. He said the males humidity was low. I said ok check for poop or white stuff and mist his cage and rinse his water bowl and give him fresh water. This was Sunday. He also checked the my female's cage and decided that since hers was good on all he put my male with my female. I've been under the weather and checked them last night only to see my new boy yellow belly "locked" with my 4 yr old normal girl. I checked this morning and they were seperated. I also put him back in his enclosure and weighed both. He is a little under 500g and she is a little under 800g. He's a yearling. Or thats what the person I bought him from said. Will I get a clutch of eggs from this or what? He didn't tell me he put them together. They both need more weight I know. I just need to know what to expect from this encounter. Please give me some advice.

Your 4 year old female ball python is 800 grams? Is this the elusive teacup bp? Or is that a typo on her weight?

jesus 800 g? thats gotta be a typo. my normal at two was pushin 1400g or so if not a little more

800g seems very low for an adult BP; lower still for a female. At 500g he is more than mature enough to procreate, my boy is 617g and producing sperm so it's not impossible. You won't 100% get eggs from one lock but it is a possibility as it is clear they are both sexually mature enough by my understanding.

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Originally Posted by Libby

Your 4 year old female ball python is 800 grams? Is this the elusive teacup bp? Or is that a typo on her weight?

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I hope its a typo. Otherwise the female bp is very underweight. Definitely needs to be clarified.

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I just weighed her this morning. No typo. She's about 4 ft long. The people who were taking care of her didn't feed her appropriately. I have been getting her back up to weight since I got her back. She was well over 1500g when I had to leave her almost 2 yrs ago. She hammers larger small rats every week except during shed. I had just gotten this male on Saturday and he was supposed to stay in quarantine till around July to make sure he didn't give anything to my girl. Yes I am paranoid when it comes to quarantine. Also he was on newspaper and she is on coco husk with moss. I really hope no eggs. My nerves are shot right now thinking she might go gravid.

Right okay, thanks for that clarification! Unfortunately there is every chance as they are both sexually mature enough. No way to say a definite answer though I'm afraid.

I really know nothing about breeding reptiles, but I can tell you than severely underweight mammals (including humans) stop ovulating. Someone else with more knowledge may be able to speak to whether she might retain the sperm until she is in better shape.

Just weighed her again. 792g to be exact on weight which is 1lb 11.8 oz. I just got a digital scale and was planning to weigh them both on Sunday. Ugh I really hope she doesn't go gravid. I never planned to breed so have no knowledge in that department. I have been working on her weight and she weighs more now than she did when I got her back at he end of Oct. She looks healthy, and eats well. I am about to move her up to smallish medium rats.

I think you need to have a chat with your partner about the seriousness of the situation, and why it so important that when he helps you out in the future, he follow your instrcutions on their care.
Best of luck!

Why were they put together in the first place if the female is so underweight? Just askin....

sent from my incubator

Ugh! Well, what's done is done, and this genie isn't going back into the bottle. I read your other thread about your friend neglecting the female but didn't realize that she had lost half her weight during the ordeal. I would just monitor her, hope that she didn't pick up any illness the male may be carrying, and keep my fingers crossed that she doesn't ovy until she gains a few hundred more grams.

I am confused on the QT though - where are the male and female located in the house so that your husband found it more convenient to put them together rather than around his neck or into another tub temporarily while he cleaned the male's enclosure? And why did he leave him with her?

He's not a snake person. He said he used both my snake hooks to move him. I did ask him why he did it and he said it was best idea in his mind. I also told him that her becoming pregnant at this size is very dangerous for her. He said oh I didn't know she could. By the way those snake hooks are for shooing wild nonvenomous snakes under my house and then sterilized. He thinks all snakes are bad and dangerous. He is also the man I had to nuter his dog for because he couldn't stand the thought of having his male parts cut off. That was before we got married. He doesn't know anything about reptiles at all except I like them. I will start feeding her like crazy as a just in case she does become gravid. I will also get an incubator as a back up incase there are eggs that aren't "slugs". I've raised chicks from the egg so I need to start researching on what to do as a precaution. Her temps have gone down a couple degrees with the onset of cooler temps here but not out of the upper 80s. So do yall think she will produce eggs? I really hope not. My male was in a back room and female is in the living room. Total opposite ends of the house. As I said he's not a snake person and WILL NOT touch them with his bare hands. I had the gloves out for the dirty work of cleaning poop.

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

Why were they put together in the first place if the female is so underweight? Just askin....

sent from my incubator

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Her husband put the male with the female because the male's husbandry was off. Not realizing the potential problem.

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I was working on his husbandry when I got sick for a couple days. My female had just eaten Saturday afternoon also. When a cold lays me low it does so in a bad way that's why I didn't know he was in with her. I don't like using paper as a substrate because it doesn't allow for me to have good humidity but since I was QTing him thats what I use. After I've had him a month he will go onto coco husk. The person I got him from had no other snakes, or reptiles and had good husbandry on him. They said he never showed signs of sickness or mites but me being a paranoid person wants to make sure he didn't give anything to my girl even from adjacent enclosures. I will be watching them both like a hawk. Both for sickness and her for eggs.

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Originally Posted by thejenius77

Her husband put the male with the female because the male's husbandry was off. Not realizing the potential problem.

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It's not that he didn't realize it, he didn't know. The OP said that her husband doesn't even touch snakes with his bare hands so I'm sure he's not very interested in knowing about them (which is perfectly fine IMO).

It seems like the it's the OP's hobby and the husband is putting up with it and merely trying to help his wife.

Anyway, I would prepare to be a mommy just in case your bp does get preggers but I really don't think that one encounter will do it.

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Since I only saw the one lock last night and they've been together since Sunday they might have locked more than Ive seen. Time to look at incubators, and feed the tar out of her to hopefully get more weight on her for possible pregnancy. How often should I start feeding her as a precaution? I usually feed a largish small rat every 7 days. I am about to move her up to a smallish medium.

Not realizing....not knowing.....Same thing.

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Originally Posted by Phantomtip

I've been under the weather and checked them last night only to see my new boy yellow belly "locked" with my 4 yr old normal girl.

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Originally Posted by Phantomtip

He is a little under 500g and she is a little under 800g.

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Originally Posted by Phantomtip

I just weighed her this morning. No typo. She's about 4 ft long. The people who were taking care of her didn't feed her appropriately. I have been getting her back up to weight since I got her back. She was well over 1500g when I had to leave her almost 2 yrs ago.

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Yes he indulges me in what he thinks is a freaky hobby. He was trying to help me when I was feeling sick. He didn't knowmthat 1 was male and 1 was female and not tto put them together. To him they are nasty. If it doesn't have fur its not a pet. To me they are pets the same as our dog and cat. He didn't like cats either when we first got married lol. Now he cuddles and sleeps with one every night. Snakes are still a no go to him. So it's really not his fault that he didn't know. Please don't think he's a jerk. He's a wonderful husband and father to me, our sons and 4 legged kiddos. He's just not into reptiles.

She might, she might not become gravid. Just keep feeding and monitoring her. Even if she's underweight now, its possible for her to pack on enough weight and fat reserves before ovulation to be considered safe. One of my adult females gained 800 g in 3 months from eating like crazy in the breeding season.
What's your feed schedule like and what are you feeding? It wont hurt to feed her a little extra if she would take it now that she's had time to adjust to eating regularly again. Skinny snakes recover quite quickly when fed regular appropriately sized food.

And I understand your situation regarding your husband. My boyfriend doesn't care about my snakes either. He helps if I ask. He thinks some of them look cool. But other than that, he has zero interest in my snakes and simply tolerates it.



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I feed the largest small rat I can find every Saturday. I am about to move her up to a small medium sized one. Before I left her she was eating small larges every Saturday. So I have gotten her back to eating every week in 1 months time frame. She wants to eat. She's only refused 1time since getting her back and that was because she was shedding. She used to eat even then. She doesn't look really underweight, but she is. She no longer has the severe triangle shape she had. Now she has a more rounded shape with triangle at backbone. You can see her backbone but not as severely as before. She looks like a good sized snake just looking at her. Then you way her and go what the.....

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I feed the largest small rat I can find every Saturday. I am about to move her up to a small medium sized one. Before I left her she was eating small larges every Saturday. So I have gotten her back to eating every week in 1 months time frame. She wants to eat. She's only refused 1time since getting her back and that was because she was shedding. She used to eat even then. She doesn't look really underweight, but she is. She no longer has the severe triangle shape she had. Now she has a more rounded shape with triangle at backbone. You can see her backbone but not as severely as before. She looks like a good sized snake just looking at her. Then you way her and go what the.....

Ya know from some of the posts on this forum I was expecting more back lash from this happening. I am so glad I didn't get more. It's an accident that has happened and now time to deal with possible consequences. I have looked up about females around 800g getting preggo and some people have had good responses and some have had their appetites increase because of it but those were with the person purposely putting a male to an underweight female. I do have them seperated again and seeing as the possible damage is done went ahead and move his enclosure to the living room. This way I can more readily monitor him also. I know I know I should keep them completely seperate. Only time will tell if she becomes gravid or not.

Another nublet question, but about how long does it take for a female to show signs of being preggers after locking up?

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Originally Posted by ViperSRT3g

Another nublet question, but about how long does it take for a female to show signs of being preggers after locking up?

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I understand that females can retain sperm for up to a year, so it depends on when she ovulates.

Depends on follicle size when she locked from what I have seen on my research so far. The best thing is to see if she looks like she just ate the whole Thanksgiving turkey by herself. Best analogy.:rofl:Sorry couldnt help it. Ive seen a couple pics so far and it does look like the female ate a couple jumbo rats. Then they get lumpy which is the eggs. The common consensus (please someome correct me if Im wrong) is a couple months then she will shed then lay. Then a couple months later if all goes well you get babies hatching.

Mistakes happen, there is no reason to beat yourself up about it. Your husband didn't know and didn't realise. You know to prepare either way and I'm sure you gave him a good scolding :)

I hope that if she is gravid you manage to get the weight on her and I hope for healthy babies, if she isn't gravid then great!

Good luck :)

I couldn't really "scold" him. I did tell him next time don't put the 2 together. I am going to put her on a 4 day feeding schedule on small rats to try and get the weight on her. I was able to get some info on my boy too. They had only had him about a day and the guy that sold him to them was a breeder making room for babies. I got lucky. He is well fed and healthy. Evidently bought from Ben Siegel. He's a late 2012 early 2013 hatchling. The guy already bred him this year because of his size. Even though he's young. So don't know if he's proven yet or not. I still didn't want them breeding though. Oh well. It's now a waiting game.

Oh boy, nothing like catching your kids in the act!

In all seriousness though, I do hope she doesn't take, and hopefully your husband will realize after this that they're separate for a reason. I feel like the one encounter won't necessarily put her into gravidity, but I'm glad you're taking precautions in case it happens.

If she's 4 they are for sure both sexually mature. She might not take because she was malnourished, but definitely be prepared. If she doesn't have good body condition I would be feeding her all the time just in case.

for sure this is a very serious situation if she does take and she goes through it healthy enough make sure to have an incubator set up DO NOT let her maternally incubate them herself, so she doesn't stay off feed for the next 60 day while wrapped around eggs! if she does have a healthy clutch good risk are right now with size can cause them to be egg bound! and will usually will end in death, let hope that is not the case, now this being said i know john .s had a proven female at 800g so it is possible for it to happen but one lock will not essentially be the one and only! and walla BAM babies! i had my girl girl pared and had over 20 locks and she didnt produce for me that was over a year ago and she hasn't been bred to anything this year! so retain sperm can also be out of the question and she is now 2300g lol and she was 1200g when we bred her!, i do wish the best of luck id be feeding her 2 large smalls or a nice medium at 800g she should be able to eat a nice size rat!, again wish the best of luck feel free to message me if you need any help!!


bets wished -connor @superior exotics

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Originally Posted by Tpythons

jesus 800 g? thats gotta be a typo. my normal at two was pushin 1400g or so if not a little more

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Yea for real..my 6 month old is almost 400 grams

I don't want babies but of they happen then so be it. I do have someone who will buy them. I'm concerned with her health. I was planning to get her completely healthy again and let her be not breed. There are a ton of baby balls out there that need a stable home. I've seen 8 ball pythons people are selling in my area alone. These are nice looking balls that the people are neglecting or just don't want anymore because their not cute little babies anymore. If I had the money I would take them all in to my care. I'm an animal lover. Well whats done is done and can't be taken back so time for me to prep as a just in case.I will be ppricing incubators and thermostats for hem tomorrow while my goober boy is napping. I want to be prepared if she does lay. I will start her on a 4 day feeding cycle.

non of you guys have have a proper estimate on what a certain ball python should weight with different feeding and if it was a picky eater or a force fed baby ect ect all comes into play , i have a 2012 normal female thats at 600g . she was force fed and now she is a monster with food my buddy has a yb female at 100+g also 2012 force fed ate on its own only a few months ago! her brother is an ivory at about 800 + gram give or take and has been on rats since day one! so many things come into play on rats or on mice, fed weekly bi weekly picky eater good eater there is now set weight

Ok off the subject of my poor light weight. On to the subject of prepping for possible eggs. Feeding her as much as she will eat, getting an incubator and thermostat. What else?

Test the incubator and get egg tubs set up.

Just fed both and cleaned enclosures. What I mean by cleaning is wetting the moss, cleaning and refreshing water, and making sure theres no mold growing. They are both really fat after this meal. My girl is completely round after 2 large meals 5 days appart lol. If she produces eggs then I will feed her as much as she wants. I got a largish small rat, or smallish medium which ever you want to call it. They both ate. Since I've owned her she has never been force fed. She has always been a good eater. BUT when she was put on a forced food strike she lost a lot of weight. I was putting the weight back on slowly. Now as a precaution I need to start putting it on faster. She took this one without even thinking. I fed her the same size on Saturday. So this is 5 days between feedings. I need to let her just sit and digest what she has in her.