Still locking up?!

[lehanna]

Ok so here's where I'm confused....everything was going according to planned. I started the season out early and well in October with my male Fire locking up nicely to my female. She quickly refused food in mid October and has been refusing since. Her last shed was also in October. Still going well throughout the winter, she was nice and fat and has maintained good weight. They locked up all winter, through January, February....never saw ovulation but I figured I'd overlooked it as she went into her first shed in February since October. She's still refusing food so I assumed ok, pre-lay shed, this all makes sense. However just to be sure I've kept the male close at hand and now both male and female are refusing food and I'm still getting locks, and they are 100% locks.....what's going on here, I was hoping for eggs within the next 30 days not more locks They've locked up more times then I can count, if she's not "fertile" then I'll eat my shoes. However should they still be locking? She's been hanging out on the warm end off and on but more often than not. She's not looking overly fat like she's gonna lay but she's not losing weight either. She's not showing many gravid signs other than some perfect circles and going into a heat up phase...so obviously the question here is what the heck is going on? Why the lock ups into March after her shed?

[LGL]

Perhaps it was her pre-ovulation shed and not her pre-lay shed?

Does she have the "ridge back" seen here:

http://www.ballpython.ca/images/bree...ridge_back.jpg
http://www.ballpython.ca/images/bree...ial/coil_b.jpg

(pictures from Markus Mandic of Markus Jayne Ball Pythons http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html)

If she's ovulated and had her pre-lay shed, this should be visible since the size of the eggs push up on the spine, causing it to stick out some. As she nears laying, this becomes increasingly visible.

Can you post a picture of her?

[Turbo Serpent]

Perhaps it was her pre-ovulation shed and not her pre-lay shed?

Completely agree. Its hard to miss an ovulation, but if you do she will refuse the male as well. So if she is still locking, odds are she hasn't ovulated yet.

[lehanna]

She is showing signs of ridgeback, but she's not nearly as porky as those girls in the photos. She's healthy but hasn't shown any signs of wanting to eat, however I'm not worried about that, she's far from skinny and she was my most aggressive eater before breeding season. I'm hoping it's was pre-ovulation shed, I'll keep an eye on her and go get a pic now while the light is good. Her male stopped eating so that's a positive sign. I wasn't expecting such a loooooong breed with her though considering they started so early but she's healthy and still locking so I guess I can't be too upset. When they get to going I get at least 3 locks a day. These past 3 days I've had about 6 locks, but I'd get as many as 15-20 locks a month with them so that doesn't surprise me either. Will get a pic, she feels like she's building follicles but it's hard to tell...she's not acting the norm but that's my luck to get a strange breed lol.

[lehanna]

Well, that's my girl Cassieopia "Cassie". Her mate Orion is in there with her now since I got a lock up this morning. Opinions?

Forgive the quality of the pics, batteries died on the cam, those are off my cell.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Do you have a better pic of this girl? Do you know what she weighs? Reason I ask is by the limited pictures above she looks WAY too small to be breeding...

[lehanna]

She looks a bit small in the picture I agree but she's safe breeding size/weight. I don't have a gram scale so I can't give you exact weight. I'll get some better pics once I get new batteries in my cam. Those pics are pretty poor quality and she's all tucked behind the water dish so you're only seeing about 1/2 of her. I'll work on more pics as soon as possible.