Gravid or Not? Xrays and Ultrsound Images

[ClarkT]

Definitely eggs. You can't see follicles in an X-ray.. At least not from our experience. What do they measure in length? Anything much bigger than 45mm is likely eggs, not follicles.

What is she, besides awesomely gorgeous! Where did you get her? She's a great looking snake. What's the sire? Congrats on a gravid female, and good luck!

[Snake Den]

Definitely eggs. You can't see follicles in an X-ray.. At least not from our experience. What do they measure in length? Anything much bigger than 45mm is likely eggs, not follicles.

What is she, besides awesomely gorgeous! Where did you get her? She's a great looking snake. What's the sire? Congrats on a gravid female, and good luck!

Thanks for the awesome feedback. Unfortunately we did not measure the eggs on ultrasound because the people doing the ultrasound thought it was gas in the colon. Luckily the took a screen shot anyway, but I do not have a measurement on it. I would guess it is over 4 cm though, since the screen, I believe, measures about 4 cm across... I didn't think follicles would show up on x-ray either due to a lack of calcium deposition at that point. Good to know someone else agrees.

The girl is actually a CB dinker I picked up from a small breeder on kingsnake.com. So her background is a mystery, and I may have opened a bag of snakes, so speak! I am crossing my fingers,and toes, that she throws something that looks like her. I bred her to my normal male just to see what happens. Next year if she is ready for a second clutch, I might try a co-dominant on her.

Again, thanks for the feedback!

[SquamishSerpents]

Perhaps they are follicles?

This is my girl when she was gravid, but maybe she was just further along (she laid 16 days after this x-ray)

[SquamishSerpents]

Also of note, X-rays don't only see stuff with calcium, in my girl's x-ray you can make out her heart, a huge load of doo, her lungs and some urates.

[SquamishSerpents]

To me, April 25th kind of looks like ovulation?

[FireStorm]

Very cool pics! Thanks for posting them!

[Snake Den]

Also of note, X-rays don't only see stuff with calcium, in my girl's x-ray you can make out her heart, a huge load of doo, her lungs and some urates.

Thank you for your image. It is nice to have a comparison, especially with the lay date! I agree with you about stuff other than calcium showing up. I just completed a course in diagnostic imaging and we learnt about the five different opacities. In general Air (Black)<Fat<Fluid (soft tissue)<Mineral (Bone)<Metal(white)... Since follicles would be classified at soft tissue I would think that unless they were surrounded by air they would be difficult to see. This is known as silhouette sign. Your image captured the heart very nicely. I assume this is because the heart is more muscular and so it is thicker and shows up more. You can also see the lungs because they are full of air and less dense. Fecal matter is easy to see because they eat whole animals containing bone.

[collrak]

Wow, that girl is definitely dinkworthy. Good luck with her!

[elbee]

First of all, that female is amazing! Congrats and please keep us updated

[Snake Den]

Update:
So today I took her out and weighed her. In since march she has gained weight with only one small rat meal in april. She has also been coiled up on the heat a lot, but right now I just noticed her soaking in her water for about 15 minutes. She is just now heading back to her heat. What is she doing? She is driving me crazy with these mixed messages! When I had her out earlier, I thought I saw egg lumps in her belly when I held her in the air, but maybe I was imagining them? Otherwise she doesn't look pregnant to me! I hope she still has those eggs cooking...