I have been attempting to get the hang of palpating for follicles.



In the past, I havent had much luck with this, however, this year I have decided to make a concentrated effort to figure out how this is done and get my technique down pat.



Its early so I am basically getting my baseline set at this point and I have been checking weekly for them.



I take my breeding females out one by one and I first work with her a bit to get her to relax some and so she is are not like a steel band. I drape her neck over the edge of a chair and then with my thumb on her backbone and my pointer and middle fingers pressed up under her belly, I run her from about 8 inches back from her head, all the way down to her vent while keeping an even consitent pressure on her belly.



In the past I have been unable to feel the follicles until they got very big and obvious.



How does everyone else do this and when and what do you look for early on? What benefits is there to palpating and is it only beneficial if you are breeding large numbers of snakes for timing purposes with the males? Please feel free to comment or correct the way I have exlained that I do this because it is a really tricky technique to get right. Half of palpating is the mechanics of it and the other half seems to be an artform almost..



Thanks!

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