ANOTHER shed?

[BaierBalls]

I have a breeding female that has me confused... She has been locking up with a male since October.

In February she shed and went into an intense glow. Very noticeable.

Then two months, later in April, she shed again, and continued to glow. I was thinking it was possible this was her pre-lay shed, although I never witnessed an ovulation.

Well yesterday, almost exactly 30 days after her last shed, I see she is going into shed AGAIN, and seemed to stop glowing a week or two ago.

I am no good at palpating which obviously is no help....

Just confused by her having two sheds AFTER the shed that started her glowing instead of just the pre-lay shed and then eggs.

Is it a bad sign? She seems to be back and forth from cool to warm sides and is still showing building behavior and locked with a male last week.

Any ideas as what might be going on with her from that little bit of info?

Thanks in advance

[BaierBalls]

Basically, instead of the normal:

Shed, glow, ovulate, shed, lay...

She is:

Shed, glow, shed, shed again.
(may or may not have ovulated in there somewhere)

[Annarose15]

Pics of her?

[fatSNAKEs]

I have the same drill going. Several girls appeared poised for a 2nd shed prior to lay. I travel on business and sometimes its difficult to catch the Ovy's. But as long as she appears gravid and showing the tell-tale signs such as aggressive eating, building, coiled around the bowl and lying sideways, you should be fine. We're going for a late season ... good luck.

[BHReptiles]

I've got a female like that...except she sheds monthly...like clockwork.

good luck with your girl!

[joebad976]

Last year, I had a female that shed twice after ovulating. I was confused as well because I was pretty sure I saw the ovy. She laid 5 eggs 7 days after her second shed. argh

Belly PIC of you holding her up and letting her bottom section drape down may help.

[BaierBalls]

I dont have a pic of me holding her straight up but I honestly don't think she has ovy'd yet. Unless she has a very small clutch. She does not have that huge soft paunch that my other females had post ovy. However she is still getting larger and has gone from 1600 grams to over 1800 grams after stopping eating.

[Archimedes]

I see one of two things happening:
She's not "there" yet, but she's building and preparing for an ovy.
OR
She's already ovy'd and you missed it (entirely possible, because some girls are sneaky), and the first was a standard shed.

I'm leaning toward the former, based on your description of a lack of pocket from holding her upright. Plus, she's still locking. If I'm right (which I'm no breeder yet, I've just picked up some knowledge from the board haha), she'd quit locking after an ovy. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, breeders!