egg laying question

[adi]

hey all, i read in a different post that the egg-laying didnt happen for 36 hours and everyone was like omg! go to a doctor .....i plan to breed next year and i need to understand.....how long should it take from them locking to her producing visually seeing the eggs? :eek:

[JLC]

I edited the title of your thread so that you are more likely to get an answer to your question. There's no need to curse (even obliquely by using achronyms) in a thread title for an ordinary question.

[Shaun J]

About a few months. You start putting them together in November and keep breeding them until April or when you see eggs, which should be around Feb- May.

This is a VERY helpful pictorial... http://ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

[Evan Jamison]

Every female is going to be different (though an individual will normally lay about the same time of year.) You may have a single lock-up in November, and not get eggs from that female until July, or even later (happened to us this past season ). It all depends on the follicular development in the female. If she feels conditions aren't right for one reason or another (not enough contact with a male, temps not right, not enough fat reserves etc.), she will slow down or even stop developing her follicles. Once follicles reach a certain size (they feel like marbles or larger when you palpate), she will normally continue developing without contact from a male, and ovulate. You can't plan on eggs from when you observe lock-ups, but you can get a feel for how close she is to ovulation by palpating her. You can also count down the days from ovulation to eggs (~45 days) if you catch the ovulation that is. For a general time table, look at Adam's breeding calander but there are always going to be exceptions to the rule. Hope this helps.

-Evan