How far along is she?

[Day & Night]

Hi, I'm attempting to breed ball pythons for the first time and would appreciate if you can lend your expert eyes to help me see if my girl is gravid. I tried palpating but I don't feel anything, although I've never done it before so I could be doing it wrong.

The girl weighs 1600+ grams.

Breedng Timeline:

Mid Oct 2015: First lock
Nov 2015: 2 locks
Dec 2015: 2 locks

15 Dec 2015: last lock (male no longer interested since then)


13 Jan 2015 (lying on her side)


17 Jan 2016: tail suck?



20 Jan 2016: Sheds skin (not sure when the shed cycle began)

Has she ovulated or is she just building? Is it too soon to be a post-ov shed? What do you think?

Many thanks in advance.

[Day & Night]

forgot to mention that her last meal was on 9 Jan 2016, she was eating like a cow before that but has just started refusing weekly meals. Will try feeding her again this weekend.

*I normally have a ceramic bowl and newspaper as substrate. She was in my spare tank when I took the last pix because her tank was being washed and dried.

[Day & Night]

Also, her usual meals are 2 x 6" rats or 4 x 3" rats. She only settled at 2 x 3" rats her last meal.

*sorry to be a pest w multiple entries here. I keep forgetting stuff and can't delete or edit previous posts

[rlditmars]

She is a good looking snake. Is she staying on the hot or cool side? If she is still hanging on the cool side then she is probably still building and keep watching for an ovy. Once she ovulates she will really hug the hot spot most of the time. Best of luck.

[rafacacho]

I been breeding for a while and I cant palpate, I dont even try anymore. Dont feel bad about it. Now, she looks big, it takes some time for them to build, some more some less. I look for an ovulation. Thats the only thing I record. Locks, and ovy. It looks like she is building, keep looking everyday to see it. And dont worry she' ll give you some nice eggs!! Good luck!

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[Day & Night]

Thanks for your replies. Ok so I think there's some progress...

21 Feb 2016 (eyes fogged up, so maybe not ovulating?)


I thought this might be tail suck, but the end of her tail wasn't "skinny"




23 Feb 2016 (eyes cleared up and laying on her back)


Last meal was 3 weeks ago. Any hunch if she is ovulating or has ovulated?

[Chkadii]

Is she staying on the hot side or cool side of her tub? She's not currently ovulating as far as I can tell, but that doesn't mean she hasn't already.

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[Albert Clark]

That first pic from 21 Feb 2016 leads me to believe that was a ovy. That next pic does look like tail sucking. If she is nearing a shed or in a shed now I would treat it as a pre lay shed and start counting down. You can never go wrong preparing early in either case.

[Day & Night]

Is she staying on the hot side or cool side of her tub? She's not currently ovulating as far as I can tell, but that doesn't mean she hasn't already.

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Unfortunatelty its hard to tell because there is no hot or cool side since ambient temp in her tub hovers between 86-91 deg (tropical climate over here). But she was soaking her head and neck in there on and off for the past few days.

[Day & Night]

That first pic from 21 Feb 2016 leads me to believe that was a ovy. That next pic does look like tail sucking. If she is nearing a shed or in a shed now I would treat it as a pre lay shed and start counting down. You can never go wrong preparing early in either case.

Her eyes fogged up for shed on 21 Feb (1st 2 pix). Today her eyes have cleared up. Since the temp in her tub is between 85-91 degrees day and night, do you think it would be a good idea to give her vermiculite+perlite bedding and let her incubate her eggs if she lays any?