Long Wait on This Girl!

[abi21491]

Alright, so bare with me. I have a female who I cooled last fall and began pairing up in November. This is Belome, she was approximately 1300+ grams at the start of breeding and 4 years old:



She is a very receptive breeder, her first lock was on 12/3/09 with a dinker male, Monty:



She locked up with Monty 12 times from 12/3/09-01/28/10. She also bred with another male, Randal 13 times from 12/12/09-5/22/10. He is a gigantic normal as far as I know, he has some very nice pied markers down the length of his belly.



Anyway, she has shown me lots of signs of being gravid, and I thought she had her pre-lay shed on 4/8/10. She had a shed a month before, so I figured the closeness suggested one was her pre-ovy and one was a pre-lay. I never saw this female ovulate, and she continues to eat throughout this entire time period. Obviously she didn't lay so that wasn't her pre-lay. I have palpated her several times and I feel 4-6 bumps every time, so I know she is gravid, just don't know when to expect eggs! Here are some pictures of her throughout:

Looking lumpy 1/1/10:


During what I thought was her pre-lay shed 4/8/10:


Right after said shed 4/8/10:


Laying inverted and looking big on 5/15/10:


Soaking on 5/17/10:


Now - Out of curiosity I decided to throw my little Mojave boy in with her to see if he had any interest in breeding. What do you know, he was very eager to despite his small size. They've locked up 4 times, once on 6/4/10, once on 6/8/10 and twice on 6/11/10. This is Thardus:



She has been soaking A LOT lately. Always in her bowl. She also appears to be glowing, here she is on 6/9/10:



I picked her up yesterday and noticed a swelling mid-body, so I'm assuming this is a pre-ovulation swelling. Here is a picture of that:

Morning 6/11/10


She locked up all yesterday and I checked her around 4 am today and the swell is even bigger. I should see an ovulation soon, right? Here are pics from 4 am today So who do you think Daddy will be??

4 am 6/12/10

[JenEric Reptiles]

Who's your daddy!

[Tazz27]

If she is still locking up with males then she hasn't ovulated yet. She may still be in the building stages. Keep offering her food until she stops eating then keep an eye out for ovulation.

There is no way to tell who the daddy will be until the eggs hatch and if they all come out looking normal you still won't be able to tell.

Good luck to you. Keep us posted.

[abi21491]

If she is still locking up with males then she hasn't ovulated yet. She may still be in the building stages. Keep offering her food until she stops eating then keep an eye out for ovulation.

There is no way to tell who the daddy will be until the eggs hatch and if they all come out looking normal you still won't be able to tell.

Good luck to you. Keep us posted.

Yea, she definitely hasn't ovulated yet I think she will soon though. I can't wait till the eggs get here, let alone hatch and thanks!

[SansCera]

That's neat!

You are gonna have some xmas babies

So crazy how late this year is

OT More pics of Monty please

[Kingballs]

I had a female lock up with a male after her pre-lay shed and she layed her eggs 23 days later. So she could still hook up after ovulation. The soaking and laying in a perfect coil all the time on the hot end is what to look for after a pre-lay shed. Good luck

[abi21491]

That's neat!

You are gonna have some xmas babies

So crazy how late this year is

OT More pics of Monty please

I know! Especially considering I started introducing in November... She decided to take her time

As for Monty, he was very hard to photograph, but here are a few of him. He had black eyes, a black wash that went up his sides and just a very chocolaty look to him.

[SansCera]

Monty is super sweet! Thanks for the pics

This is such a strange year. I started putting snakes together in month 9 of last year and I have females that are just know in the glowing phase

BUT...I also have snakes crawling out of the egg right now

I hope Monty is the sire

Although that Mojave is bangin' hot

[abi21491]

Monty is super sweet! Thanks for the pics

This is such a strange year. I started putting snakes together in month 9 of last year and I have females that are just know in the glowing phase

BUT...I also have snakes crawling out of the egg right now

I hope Monty is the sire

Although that Mojave is bangin' hot

No problem

haha, that's crazy! Good luck with the rest of your gravid girls

and I would want Monty to be the sire IF there are visual offspring in there... Lol! If so I'm still in contact with the guy who bought him from me, he said I could always borrow him down the line to breed back to a daughter if I wanted to prove a super. Of course, that's IF he proved in the first place.

and thanks! I really like Thardus myself

[SansCera]

No problem

haha, that's crazy! Good luck with the rest of your gravid girls

and I would want Monty to be the sire IF there are visual offspring in there... Lol! If so I'm still in contact with the guy who bought him from me, he said I could always borrow him down the line to breed back to a daughter if I wanted to prove a super. Of course, that's IF he proved in the first place.

and thanks! I really like Thardus myself

Thanks, it's kinda neat having them spread out. Always with the excitement of eggs. Also I can use just one small incubator.

If Monty is the sire you will know