follicle growth???

[badmagic2006]

I just recieved a female normal that has been bred to 3 males(pastave,spider,and blk pastel)according to the breeder I purchased her from. I tried to palpate her today and felt at least 3 follicles. I am new at this but they were with out a doubt noticable. My questions are this....
1. What happens now???
2. What are the chances of her being gravid???


Im not quite sure of the whole follicle development process. Any advice would be helpful

[dr del]

Hi,

If you can still feel follicles then it cannot be gravid yet.

It may have sperm from the previous breeding but it has not yet ovulated and fertilized the follicles.


dr del

[badmagic2006]

So do i need to put another male with her or hope that the previous 3 did the job? What are some things that I need to be looking for as far as follicle growth/ovulation???

[dr del]

Hi,

Hopefully someone better aquainted with this will give you a better answer but here is the info that has managed to lever itself into my thick skull so far.

Follicles grow in size until ovulation (which occurs at around 45 - 50mm I think ).

If you have no male you can hope that she is retaining sperm from one of the earlier breedings. But if the follicles are quite large (30-40mm say ) I would be tempted to leave it unless I had dom or co-dom morph male ready to go.

I certainly wouldn't introduce her to any recessive morph males.

She was bred to three different males so the chances of one of them being fertile is pretty high as long as the previous owner saw actual locks.

At ovulation the follicles will be fertilized and moved down the body to finish turning into fully formed and shelled eggs. While follicles are fairly easy to feel and count eggs tend to be a lot harder - I personally have never been confident of what I was feeling after ovulation.

I do palpate quite often before ovulation in the hopes of having a good idea of how many eggs to expect - in the future that might help me decide which male to pair with which female but for now it is just for practice.

Once you see the ovulation then you know something is coming out - be it fertile or not.

Once she has had the pre-lay shed start counting down and making your preparations.

But once you tell us what size the follicles were and what males you have of breedable age we should be able to give more specific advice.


dr del

[badmagic2006]

ok........that clears it up a little. What really sucks is that at the moment I have nothing to put in with her. All my males are under 300g. I guess I should try to hunt down a male. Is there like a "window of opportunity"? Ive got my eye on a pastel that is 1000+g

[RichsBallPythons]

Try sticking to one thread.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=114972

[dr del]

Hi,

This probably needs more experienced heads than mine to answer I'm afraid.

I, personally, wouldn't buy a new snake based on this as the window might have passed by the time they go through quarantine. But that also depends on whether the previous owner saw actual locks with the three males or just that he put them in the same bin and didn't see anything, and the size of the current follicles.


dr del