All the little details of breeding that are hard find

[ivylea77]

I agree this is a good thread. I also agree that the little details are hard to gather up, but this thread clears up a lot of things I've wondered about.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I think Tracy does an excellent job talking about the shed cycles in her book when it comes to breeding ... for years I've noticed that females tend to go into shed very soon after being introduced to a male for the first time ... also, females tend to shed months to weeks prior to ovulation ... then again after they ovulate ... and then one last time after they lay eggs. Until she described it in Pythons of the World Volume II, I had never given it much thought … but when I read it, I instantly realized how brilliant it was to put all of the sheds together in a “timeline” like that.

The trick is that the post ovulation shed (at least for me) is the only one that can be predicted with any type of accuracy ... and even that is not "set in stone" as I've had females skip this step entirely ... I've recorded the pre-ovulation shed in my females anywhere from 4 weeks up to 3 months prior to ovulation, so it's not a real clear indicator of when ovulation will occur.

On the subject of ovulation, the process itself takes roughly 24 hours (although may be shorter or longer), but is probably most visible to the novice for the 12 hours in the middle of the process (because it's a build up and then release).

Just remember, these snakes aren't reading the same books and message boards that you guys are ... they don't follow the "rules" ... all this stuff is just ball park guidelines based on observation ... in the end, the snakes will do what they want.

Hope this helps.

-adam

[ivylea77]

It helps

[Fearless]

Just remember, these snakes aren't reading the same books and message boards that you guys are ... they don't follow the "rules" ... all this stuff is just ball park guidelines based on observation ... in the end, the snakes will do what they want.

-adam

Thats what u think! I am reading this all to them tonight so they will make me quit worrying so much! And they will know what to do and when to do it!

But thanks everyone for helping

[Petboy15]

I have multiple females who are shedding. I'm loving it! Some shed as recently as November, so this isn't just another shed. I'm looking for some glowing and building now...and i'm going crazy about it!