Oct 5

[Eric Alan]

this happened on Monday the fifth.. Now according to picture #2....she should or maybe not shed on the 26 or 27th.? isn't the ovulation/fertilization when locks happen.?? sorry if that writing on the bottom right of this pic is not tolerated..

The easiest way to explain it is to put it into human terms - every time someone has unprotected sex, you can't start a 9 month countdown until baby time. Sex =/= fertilization. Same thing with ball pythons - locks don't equal guaranteed hatchlings on a set schedule (not even close!). Things tend to happen when they happen. Once ovulation happens in ball pythons (which is a very obvious visual occurrence), you can start a pretty reliable countdown. Until then, though, your guess is likely as good as anyone else's.

If you haven't seen this already, it's well worth your time to check it out: Breeding Pictorial by Mark Mandic.