pied & vpi axanthic..poss pre lay shed

[Bruceweb]

Heres the pied female..I think she is in prelay shed..opinions appreciated


Heres the axanthic

[Bruceweb]

This is my first time breeding & probably getting paranoid about the girls..my pied has not eaten for over 4 months apart from a couple of mice a fortnight ago, just shed today & gained over 500g..is this ok?
Axanthic is in shed at the moment but I put the male in yesterday afternoon, they locked straight off & still locked..is it normal for the female to still accept the male, she never refuses him

[Vilenica]

Based on your pics bruce - the pied to me (not eating for fourmonths definitely looks like something is building)as far as gaining 500g (if i read correctly) without 500g of intake, something may be unprecedented or your records are corrupted. They can only convert their own body mass/prey item mass into eggs. (i hope i understood you correctly) by her looks she very may be in postovulation shed.

As for the axanthic i would assume she is not gravid by looks and in my experience none of my females have been receptive to males once gravid so keep breeding until she pushes him aside. she will . Best of luck

[Vilenica]

Does your Pied have a ridged back in comparison to the axanthic (i cant see their backs) but I would think this and that would be a good sign for your Piebald

[Bruceweb]

Does your Pied have a ridged back in comparison to the axanthic (i cant see their backs) but I would think this and that would be a good sign for your Piebald

Yes her spine is showing on her back..I started breeding her at just over 1200g, she weighs 1700g tonight..for the first week of breeding she really hammered her food, then stopped, ate a few times a couple of weeks back then stopped..this is really confusing
p.s when she was going in to shed she has been lying on her back belly up & really grumpy..she is normaly sweet natured

[Vilenica]

Hey Bruce check out this site of our canadian friend Mark Mandic this link will help you and I think make you crazy at the same time but very informative on things to look for http://www.ballpythons.ca/gallery/breeding.html

[Bruceweb]

Hey Bruce check out this site of our canadian friend Mark Mandic this link will help you and I think make you crazy at the same time but very informative on things to look for http://www.ballpythons.ca/gallery/breeding.html

Thanks again, looked at Marks site a few times but still none the wiser lol!
Will just have to keep waiting & hope for the best