Monumental weight gain

[Zspook]

Thank you all for your kind responses. I believe my plans will work eventually. No one has mentioned the bowl wrapping. Temps are 90 on top of the hide 85.5 to 87 inside. Ambient 84 to 86 per accurite on top of the hide. Temps verified by laser gun. She has not been bred. She will spend 18 to 20 hrs in and around the bowl.

[Kingdomall]

adult females of that size should never be fed that frequently. it harms their immune systems and makes them very fat.
I feed my 650 gram male a small rat once every 3 weeks and he looks great. unless you're planning on breeding her, you shouldn't be feeding her anymore frequently.

[Kingdomall]

she could be developing follicles on her own, I'm not experienced in this though.

[dakski]

Thank you all for your kind responses. I believe my plans will work eventually. No one has mentioned the bowl wrapping. Temps are 90 on top of the hide 85.5 to 87 inside. Ambient 84 to 86 per accurite on top of the hide. Temps verified by laser gun. She has not been bred. She will spend 18 to 20 hrs in and around the bowl.

Two thoughts.

1. I would lower the ambient temps slightly. I think 80-84F range is better. What is her cool side?

If it's too warm she might be hugging the water dish to cool down a little (depending on where the water dish is - it could be cooler).

2. What's humidity?

She might be hugging the water dish because the humidity is a little higher there.

These are just thinking out loud ideas. Not sure, but I would lower the ambient temps a little bit.

[nikkubus]

I totally missed that part. What are your cool side temps at?

She very well could be building follicles, she is the right age, and they will often do it without conditioning of any kind. Just to be safe I'd make sure she isn't doing it because it's too hot though. If she is building follicles, she should decide at some point that there are no males, so it's best to go ahead and reabsorb them. Every once in a while they will just lay slugs though.

[Zspook]

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

[dakski]

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

You know your BP better than we do, so if you think she's acting differently, that's fine.

I tend to think the simplest reasons are more often the cause of things rather than less likely scenarios. I think it's probably a temp issue. If it's 76.4F where she is now, and she's staying there, and it's 84-90FG in the rest of the tank, she just wants to cool down.

Am I 100% sure. No. However, that's a simple answer to a likely simple cause.

I would adjust your temps, as mentioned earlier, and if she still stays there, maybe something else is up. However, my BP, spends most of her time on the cooler side of the tank. Her range is about 77-89F with a gradient. Hot side being 89F and cool side being about 77F. I would be more concerned if she was spending a lot of time on the hot side.

[nikkubus]

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

76.4 is pretty perfect cool side imho. Unless the gradient is really sudden where is 76.4 there and then jumps a lot higher for the entire rest of the enclosure, I'm leaning towards that she is building, especially if you see a pretty noticeable thickness right about 1/3 from her tail vs right about the middle.

She should reabsorb, but if she decides to lay slugs, you need to be mindful of when to expect them and be ready to take her to the vet if she has trouble. Take careful notes of dates of anything significant, including refusing food, shedding, change in her appearance like she is brightening up, and if she has a sudden drastic swell.

[dakski]

76.4 is pretty perfect cool side imho. Unless the gradient is really sudden where is 76.4 there and then jumps a lot higher for the entire rest of the enclosure, I'm leaning towards that she is building, especially if you see a pretty noticeable thickness right about 1/3 from her tail vs right about the middle.

She should reabsorb, but if she decides to lay slugs, you need to be mindful of when to expect them and be ready to take her to the vet if she has trouble. Take careful notes of dates of anything significant, including refusing food, shedding, change in her appearance like she is brightening up, and if she has a sudden drastic swell.

I agree 76F is a little low, but if the rest of the tank is 84-90F, that may be her best bet to cool down.

I know little about follicles, so I'll leave that to you and others.

Either way, I'd get the temps correct first.

I should have asked, how big is the tank? I have my BP in a 4X2' and although the range is 77-89F, her cool side ranges from 77-81F, depending on where she is, and there is a big gradient to the hot side of 89F. So even though, 77F is a little chilly, she has many options for different temps and hides in all temp gradients.

[Zspook]

Thanks for all your input! Her AP enclosure is 6' by 2.5' by 18" high. With a basking shelf. Temperature variations horizontally and vertically. She's been in and around the water dish since 8:30 last night. It's almost noon, she's still there.