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Q: Possibly Gravid Ball Python?
Posted By:

iashia

In Relation To:

Hurricane

A while ago, i got a ball python that my dad had previously kept.  i housed it with my male for a while, and some weid thing were going on that resembled mating.  about a month after them being housed together, i put all my snakes in indivitual tubs in a rack system.  about 2 months later, i noticed that the new python was gettin really thick in the tail area.

n ow, shes not a proven female, so im not assuming that shes pregnant.  she recently shed and dropped a load.  so you might have thought that she would  have thinned out, but she didnt.  what do i need to know if eggs pop up?
Points: 100
Topics: Cycling , Ovulation , Egg Laying
Tags: Breeding, Gravid, Python, Regius
Species: Pythons > Pythons > Python regius
Administrative: Show/Hide
Accepted Answer 10/4/2009 1:10:41 PM

PythonPassion
I'd say that she's probably not gravid right now.  Females typically ovulate in the spring, so as to lay the eggs when the weather is warm and suitable for egg development.  Many ball pythons can and will breed at this time of the year, though.  I have already started pairing mine up.  Ball pythons tend to mate between now and March or April most often, with females ovulating sometime in the spring (female ball pythons can store sperm for many months, and it is not unheard of for females to retain sperm from one breeding season to the next).

However, just in case, I would highly recommend an incubator of some sort for egg incubation, as maternal incubation often fails, especially with an inexperienced breeder (I failed horribly with maternal incubation the first year I attempted breeding).  I use a hova bator, though they are a bit more difficult to work with as they don't hold the best humidity and have to be remoistened about once a week.  There are also some great reptile incubators out there, but they are pricey.

But let me backtrack here a bit: if your female is indeed gravid, she will need a secure, humid nest box in which to lay her clutch.  Make sure she has a hot spot of 90 degrees Fahrenheit within the nest box.  You may also notice her lying with her belly in the air, as is typical of gravid females (but not all of them do it), and in my own expereince, they start to do this about 2-3 weeks before egg deposition.  Moost likely, if she's gravid, she will refuse food until the clutch arrives (of course, many ball pythons are going off feed right now due to hibernation as well though, so food refusal in and of itself is not going to be your best indicator right now).  If the female is a smaller one, you may be able to see visual lumps down the bottom half of her body when she is getting close to laying, but if she is a larger female, you probably won't notice it.

Best of luck and hope this helps!
 
Member Comment 1/17/2011 8:09:33 AM

abi21491

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