Are my females gravid?

[YBballs]

I'm wondering if my females are gravid and what if anything I can do to increase the chances of them laying this season. This is my first time breeding balls. I've bred geckos in the past.

I began pairing my female banana, female spider and female super stripe in late October 2018. The banana and super stripe were 2016s around 1500g when initially paired with confirmed locks. I'm not sure about the age of the spider but I believe she's a 2015. She was 1800+ grams when paired. I have observed 5+ locks for each female, all with the same male except for the first lock with the spider which was with a second male to get my main male going.

All 3 females are in a tgr rack with fb40 tubs. Until about a month ago my ambient temps were 80 with an 89 degree hot side. Humidity is always between 60 and 70. About a month and a half ago I dropped my ambient down to 77 and programmed a 2 degree night drop on the hot side. My spider and super stripe resist locking with the male at this point but still will sometimes if he is determined. The banana will still lock quite willingly. The spider currently weights nearly 2700g, the super stripe and banana nearly 2000g. The spider and super stripe have a "lumpy" look to them that the banana lacks. The super stripe is almost always found on the cool end or wrapped around her water dish. No pattern to the tub location of the other 2.

If there is any more info that could be helpful let me know and I will provide. I will post current pictures VERY shortly.

Thanks for reading

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Here is what to look for.

http://ballpython.ca/breeding/

If your females are lumpy or on the cool end they are not gravid they are building up, follicular development takes 4 to 8 months

Until your females have ovulated they are not gravid.

If the follicles are smaller than a quarter keep pairing.

[YBballs]

Females

[MR Snakes]

Females

Good looking girl. She'll make some nice babies. Good luck!

[YBballs]

These are the other two

[dr del]

Hi,

This can also be used to feel eggs once you recognise how they feel.

[redshepherd]

Hi,

This can also be used to feel eggs once you recognise how they feel.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do the follicles need to be fairly large to be easily felt this way? I keep hearing they're like a string of pearls, but are they kind of mobile and soft in the body depending on how the snake flexes her muscles/moves around?

Back when I was pairing my first female a couple years ago, I didn't know what I was feeling in her body or not all the way up until after she probably even ovulated LOL. I'm pairing two females this year and still not sure what I'm feeling or not.

[YBballs]

I have wondered this also ^^^

[dr del]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do the follicles need to be fairly large to be easily felt this way? I keep hearing they're like a string of pearls, but are they kind of mobile and soft in the body depending on how the snake flexes her muscles/moves around?

Back when I was pairing my first female a couple years ago, I didn't know what I was feeling in her body or not all the way up until after she probably even ovulated LOL. I'm pairing two females this year and still not sure what I'm feeling or not.

Bigger is easier to feel no doubt. They go from around small hard pearls up to hard ping pong balls right before ovulation and eggs are considerably softer after that. The snakes resistance/ muscle tone/ cooperation makes a huge difference to what you can feel when but if they are not resisting it can give you great information. After ovulation I do it far less often as all I would be looking for is the position in the body to give me a clue when they are likely to lay and you can quite often pick that up visually.