In my personal opinion, yes to much intake while a snake is gravid can cause that. The first thing someone thinks when a snake is bred is that they need to be feeding so heavy, when in reality, The food supply does not always become more abundant for a gravid wild snake. Just like some humans, its not healthy for a woman to gain 50 pounds during pregnancy when shes just going to pop out a 6-8 pound baby. lol My wife lost weight in the first 6 months of pregnancy and only gained just over 18 pounds after that, but yet, a nice fat baby was born.

I keep all of my snakes on a weekly feeding. When sunday roles around, I check through all the racks and if someone is shedding I will not thaw anything out and that snake waits until next sunday, UNLESS it is an underweight or really thin individual such as a hatchling or picky eater.

If my snakes are gravid (which has only been a handful of time since I have not bred too many species) I feed them as normal until they start bulking up. When I notice them bulking up a lot, Then I switch to smaller meals. I was also told that pinkies and small fuzzies have more calcium and its good to feed nestlings to your gravid females. I don't know if there is truth to that or not. After a female has done her pre lay shed, I cease feeding even if the opportunistic snake would still eat. Even though most snakes do not eat at this time, I hear of some people trying to feed them anyways. I think it is better to not stress them out and leave them be. After my snake lays, I continue to wait a week or two to feed them. I never pull eggs and feed right away.

This method has worked for the animals that I have bred (Clarus phase longnose snakes, san gabriel zonata parvirubra, pyro, and cali kings) and I have never had an egg bound snake.

As far as fertility goes, I have always worried more about temps in the spring because I was told it was an issue. I always introduce after ovulating shed at night when its cooler and keep temps low.

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