Quote Originally Posted by xdeus
How long does the female retain sperm if she hasn't produced follicles?
No one really knows for sure. But just to be clear, females always have follicles. In my collection, males are breeding with females now. Those girls will hold onto that sperm until they ovulate sometime in the spring. There is wide speculation that the higher temps of the summer months seem to prevent almost all female ball pythons from being able to retain sperm into a second breeding season, but there are a couple of rare documented instances of that happening.

Quote Originally Posted by xdeus
How can you get a female to produce follicles? (introduction to male? Light cycling? Cooling down?)
Again, females always have follicles. All of the things you listed ... cycling temps, light cycles, presence of males, seem to play into triggering follicular development. And then some females just seem to show signs of follicular development even without those things. A solid cycle of temp and light drops, decreased food supply, and introduction of courting males seems to work for me every year as far as triggering all of my girls into follicular development and ovulation at around the same time.

Quote Originally Posted by xdeus
How long after she has been fertilized (with follicles) until she lays(?) the clutch?
Ovulation is the key ... once the female ovulates, fertilization takes place, then 7 - 10 days later the female will shed (post ovulation shed or POS), after that, eggs are typically laid at around the 30 day mark give or take (although I've had females go as short as 17 days and as long as 96). The end of "cycling" lights and temps (or "warm up" as I call it) is typically the catalyst for ovulations to begin.

-adam