palpating questions

My pair have hooking up again and again for over a month. Somedays they don't have anything to do with each other then somedays they can't get enough. I'm not sure about palpating. Monday night while in the shower she got real fat in the middle and stayed that way for a while I thought maybe it was ovulation. They stay in a 50 gallon breeder tank. If I'm doing something wrong let me know I don't want to hurt them!!!

Sounds like she OVY!

In the shower? What was she doing in the shower?

Also, are they permanently housed together, or do you separate them to allow the male to rest?

I take him out every couple days to rest and all my snakes love warm showers

It could be ovulation, but if they have only been breeding for a month, there is a good chance that it wasn't. Is she still eating? If she eats now, then that's a definite no. How long was she fat? Ovulation doesn't happen over a few minutes then go away just as quick, it occurs over a day or two. As far as the shower goes, why do you think your BPs like it? :confused:

Are you looking for palpating advice?

-Evan

She has not eaten for two months and was swollen for a day and a half or so.As for the shower my male and females will lay around my neck or in the bottom of the tub and just soak it up for as long as I stay in. Our snakes are not tub confined they go outside and we even take them to work with us sometimes. They just seem to glow after a afternoon in the grass. My 1800 gram female will lay under the covers while my son watches cartoons for hours. They are handled every day and they eat fine and have grown fast. Long story short they are part of the family. Right or wrong they are fat, healthy and MITE free.

I think I'll step in here before things get a little nuts. (The potential is there... :P ;) )

The first thing that comes to mind when reading this is to wonder how you know the snakes enjoy the showers just because they stay in there with you. Do they have a choice? Can they simply crawl out and go on their way if they don't want to be there? For the most part, ball pythons aren't exactly whiney or complaining snakes. They just go with whatever situation they get forced into and curl back up in their snug caves again as soon as they can.

That being said...none of what I just said really matters. I just want to point out that it is human nature to want to point out what others perceive as errors or unnecessary risks that may put the animals in harm's way.

In their zeal for animals' well being, they will likely point out the risks of excessive stress, potential illness and injury, and losing the snakes when/if they crawl away in a moment of inattention. Some people take this as criticism and get defensive about their husbandry choices and threads can spiral down into a mess of flaming and arguments that do nothing to improve the situation of any animals.

Folks will want to be sure you're aware of the risks you're taking. I hope you can understand that and accept it, whether or not you agree with it. And I hope that those who choose to weigh in on a thread like this will realize that it's up to each keeper to choose their own way. We can point out risks and alternative methods, but we can't make them agree with us. In the end, we have to trust that the keeper in question is correct when they say their animals are healthy and "happy" and to do otherwise only invites unnecessary stress into our own lives.

Sorry for the soapbox lecture.....I'll shut up now.... :oops:

Yea.... I guess I don't disagree with being friendly with your snakes in the way you describe, but the showers comment does frankly unsettle me. If your taking showers with them, are you taking cold showers, or do you subject them to hot temps that humans enjoy? I'm talking 90 degrees is a good temp here, which would be considered cool to us humans.

How do you know they enjoy the hot shower, or anything for that matter?

Are you purposely breeding these animals?

Just for the sake of the potentially gravid female and her special requirements, I would stop doing the showers and let her decide what is best for her body while she is developing and carrying the eggs. I see no harm in offering her a bowl of warm water occasionally to soak in if necessary... but for the success of carrying the eggs till laying, I would stop forcing her to do anything. You could end up hurting her or her eggs from that business.

Just my .02 cents

Edit: I would not recommend doing the hot showers with the blood at all. They have completely different requirements as far as heat goes... a bowl of water the temp of their enclosure is just fine.

To subject a possibly gravid female to warm showers sounds like plain ignorance. Snakes are not human.... can anyone say Anthropomorphism?

I was not tring to cause a disagreement! But I dont like the idea of puppy mills or snake mills if you will. i don't make them do anything if they want to get out they can just crawl over the side where my wife is waiting with a towel and I always check the water temp. harming them is the last thing I want. As far as breeding them I just wanted to see what they would produce and for me it would be nonprofet for sure. My wife don't to give up anything. Nock on wood we have never had a problem with RI or mites. And I fell so lucky because I have heard of some bad cases of both and I fell sorry for snake and the keeper! We bath them after they eat to make sure they don't have any tagalongs from the rat before they go back in there homes and this is done the next day .They stay in the feeder tank over nite. Sorry I didn't mean to cause conflict. I just wanted to know about palpation

Rat and snake mites are host specific. They wont cross species. ;) But still, on the temps of the water... I would shoot for 90 degrees.... anything hotter and you could over heat your animal. That is potentially dangerous given they depend solely on thermoregulating. I wouldn't expect them to always understand what's happening to them and how to get out of that (going to wife with towel), that's where being a responsible keeper comes in. Make decisions for the snake based on simple instincts and habits.

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Originally Posted by roosterman2173

I was not tring to cause a disagreement! But I dont like the idea of puppy mills or snake mills if you will. i don't make them do anything if they want to get out they can just crawl over the side where my wife is waiting with a towel and I always check the water temp. harming them is the last thing I want. As far as breeding them I just wanted to see what they would produce and for me it would be nonprofet for sure. My wife don't to give up anything. Nock on wood we have never had a problem with RI or mites. And I fell so lucky because I have heard of some bad cases of both and I fell sorry for snake and the keeper! We bath them after they eat to make sure they don't have any tagalongs from the rat before they go back in there homes and this is done the next day .They stay in the feeder tank over nite. Sorry I didn't mean to cause conflict. I just wanted to know about palpation

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Sorry! I wasn't trying to imply that you were trying to start any conflicts. I was just trying to give a heads-up to both you and to the people who might want to reply and hopefully squelch a heated discussion before it started. The thing is, your post is full of information that begs a response from those who may be concerned for your animals.

It's very apparent to me that you care deeply for your animals. It just may be that if you knew more about their needs and their extremely basic understanding of the world around them, you might be able to give them an even better home than you already do. An ideal home for a snake is not particularly emotionally satisfying for us humans...except the satisfaction of knowing the animals are well cared for.

That being said...if your animals are healthy and eating and not regurging, then you've no reason to believe that what you're doing is not right. Just understand that folks might try to tell you differently.

As for the issue of palpating....I think that question has been lost in the deluge of other information that begs a response. You might start a new thread with a very basic question such as, "Exactly how does one palpate for eggs? How hard can you mash around without hurting the snake or potential eggs?"....without any other distracting information. I would answer the question for you, but that is beyond my personal field of experience and knowledge. :)