Posted by:
flavor
at Sun Nov 4 14:52:25 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by flavor ]
Paul,
I have found that BRBs do not need to be thermocycled by the keeper to reproduce. However, I've noticed that if I didn't manipulate the temperatures, my breeders cylcle themselves. Often times, this time of year, males will move off the warms spots in their cages and refuse food. Soon, the females will begin to develop follicles and they will behave the same way.
I think pregnancy is fairly obvious if you know what signs to look for. Watch for swelling in the lower 1/3 of the female's body. This indicates follicle development. Often times, females will refuse food during follicle development. At some point, the female will ovulate. this shows up much the same way it does in Green tree pythons, a huge swelling that lasts 24 - 48 hours and then reduces. At this point, if she has been copulating with a male, she is likely to be pregnant. She will stop hanging out at the cool end of her enclosure. Pregnant BRBs will spend just about the entire gestation sitting quietly in the warm end of the cage. You can palp the developing embryos but there's really no need to. If you lift the animal into the air, hloding her by the upper part of her body, letting the lower part dangle, you will notice a very "lumpy" appearance along her belly about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way down. In my experience, females usually don't start lying on their sides until the latter parts of gestation.
This past season, Dave Colling and I managed to pin some more exact numbers to the length of gestation. Gravid BRBs will go through a post-ovulatory shed and give birth 105 to 130 days later. The range of days seems to be linked to the female's body temperature during gestation. I kept my gravid females between 84 and 86° F, Dave kept his at 80°F ( I think), hence longer gestations for his animals. His all went over 125 days. Mine were all in the 105 - 110 day range.
If you've got more questions, bring 'em on. By the way, I wish everyone the best with this year's breeding season. I think I'm going to sit this one out so I can focus more on my chondros. Wish me a little luck O.K.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com
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RE: Gravid? It IS a possiblity... but.. - flavor, Sun Nov 4 14:52:25 2007