No longer sure if pregnant...

[Aercadia]

First-time breeder problems. :\ Hoping some of you more experienced herpers can help me figure this one out.

We have a 2011 Kingping female we've been breeding (Kingpin male, we're hoping for Lucies!) - she was 1780g when they started locking, and we believe this may be her first time. He's a proven breeder, and boy does he get the job done! Back in August we palpitated her, and although we're not very experienced, it felt like she had follicles building. We witnessed weekly locks between August 26 and December 27, and once more the last week of January.

She was still eating weekly until November 4th and then refused until December 8th, when she started eating weekly again until the end of January. She just ate again this week.

She was definitely glowing for a couple of weeks, she looked like an entirely different snake - both KPs looked like toffee when they were together before, and when her glow came on she looked like cereal in milk next to this "dark" boy. We thought she ovulated on March 2nd - everything online says "you can't miss it", and she did indeed look like she'd swallowed a football (unfortunately we didn't think to get a picture), so we were sure that was "it".

From what we've read, after ovulation it should be 10-16 days to the pre-lay shed. She started getting dark sometime last week, and is duller now but just starting to try and soak (which we assume is her getting ready to shed, since she is a notorious bath-baby during shed), but she is looking thinner and not doing "uncomfortable" things (wrapping her bowl, laying in tight coils, laying inverted, etc) and her shed has not come yet... 23 days after "ovy", which leads us to worry that:

• maybe she didn't actually ovulate?
• she may not be gravid?
• she reabsorbed?

We are hesitant to palpitate her at this stage, since on the chance there are eggs, we don't want to hurt them. We ordered an ultrasound a couple weeks ago but it will not be here until early April, so we have no way of knowing what is going on in there... just watching and waiting and wondering.

[Dave Green]

Lots of good signs there. I bet it's one of two things, you either saw building rather than an ovulation so she will shed and ovulate in a few weeks, or you did see an ovulation and she is just slightly off on her shed and you'll get eggs in a month or so. People often mistake building for an ovulation when they first start breeding but once you witness a couple ovulations you'll know going forward. Also, they often look thinner after ovulation and people start second guessing.

[Hannahshissyfix]

I wouldn't give up yet. My female that laid last month shed about 3 weeks (I can check exactly later) after her obvious ovulation and then didn't lay until 35-36 days after that so she had me second guessing the whole time too. Snakes aren't good at reading calendars.

[Aercadia]

Thank you! We'll remain hopeful!

Our understanding was that snakes in egg production generally go off food, so we were extremely worried about her appetite coming and going - I guess that's a general rule and not a hard and fast one?

[Albert Clark]

Also Aer, the actual building phase can take as long as 6 to 8 months before ovulation occurs. And the time between ovulation to any pre lay shed can be much more than 10 to 16 days. It could be a month or so. If you saw confirmed locks that is a pretty good sign that sperm has been transferred to the female however it may take up to a year before eggs are laid. Give or take the health of the female, sperm viability, building success, and other factors.

[wibihihi]

thats exactly what happened to me last breeding season

so i got this female, she was in top condition and i witnessed several locks.
i kept waiting, she showed ovulation, wrapped her bowl, glowing, and (what i tought as) prelay shed
but she never refused food and she never lays egg till today

i dont know about weather effects, but in Indonesia last year we got really bad hot wave in middle of breeding season, really hard to control temp in room and my friends experienced this as well with his retic.

But i think in your case, you should keep your hope
i think there is still good chances that she gonna lays egg, i really hope too