Please help me regain my sanity...

[pavlovk1025]

I have a female that is absolutely driving me up the wall. She started locking my mojave male back in august. September/October she did the building/bowl wrapping and voracious eating that is associated with follicle development and preparation for breeding. Mid November she shed, and then December 4th she shed again. I have palpated her, there are 6 lumps inside of her that run from her midsection down to the tail. Now, I think that I have either missed an ovulation or she is on her way. I read that at ovulation follicle size is about 45mm, and these are definitely bigger than that. So I am assuming that 1) I missed an ovulation and 2) Dec 4th was her POS. This means that eggs should have been laid 2 days ago or so. Her body is rounded out, she has a ridgeback, she lays in a coil that varies from loose to tight throughout the day. However she doesnt look as swollen as some pictures Ive seen. I dont know what the hell is going on anymore. The bator is set up just in case, but am I expecting an ovulation or am I expecting eggs? How do I differentiate the two based on follicle size? Please help, Im losing my sanity.

This is a pic from about 3 weeks ago.




OH and I forgot to add, she went off feed a month and a week ago and has been refusing the male for the last 3 attempts.

[pavlovk1025]

Anyone?

[twistedtails]

I have one of those females right now also. She is driving me crazy. First I thought she had her POS, then I though I saw an ovulation. What I would do is hold her up and let her lower half hang to she if you can see the individual eggs. You won't be able to see them until she lets herself loose though, so, let her calm down a bit. Of course be very gentle while handling her also.

[twistedtails]

She does look pretty light though, My guess is she is still building.

[wilomn]

She does look pretty light though, My guess is she is still building.

Either that or she's going to slug out.

Can you get a shot of her stretched out?

[twistedtails]

Either that or she's going to slug out.

Can you get a shot of her stretched out?

That could be true also. If you are feeling hard lumps and it is post ovulation then those are most likely slugs.

[dr del]

Hi,

Well the ridged back and rounded body sound like a good sign. ( I think - not exactly mr super experienced about this stuff ).

Two days late isn't out of the ordinary for egg laying.

What does her tail end look like? Does it look like she is seconds away form the largest poop ever?

But more importantly where in the temp range of her cage is she laying?


dr del

[boasandballs]

From the pic it looks like she might be still building, but it could be the way she is laying there.

boy oh boy do I love my ultrasound right about now. Sorry. It does let me cheat.

[dr del]

I'd love an ultrasound.

Do you need to do it with lubricant or underwater or anything or is it as simple as grab snake and apply probe?

Mind you I drive the neighbours cat daft with the temp gun - gawd alone knows what I'd be like with an ultrasound machine.


dr del

[West Coast Jungle]

Sometimes they take longer than 30 days, I have heard even weeks longer. They are incubating internally at this point and if temps are low it usually takes longer. You will know when she is about to lay because it gets real low in the tail like she is going to take a real big poop.
I can ususally tell withing 24 hours of laying because swelling gets real low right down to the cloaca and the tail looks tiny in comparison.

Hope this helps.