Its very easy to tell if and when they are ovulating.



First if you watch your animals, when they feed, they are large in the middle, then the bolus moves to the back(turns to poop)They are heavy in the rear. Then they pass that and return to a normal size. Just before they ovulate, they build up enternal fat and its appears like they are holding feces.



At this time, if they feed, it swells way more then normal.



Soon after then, they drop ovum from from their ovaries and they move into the oviducts. Once there, they from a "String of pearls" At first they are about the size of a pea and a half an inch apart. If you allow the female to crawl between your fingers(held still at a distance 2/3 aprox, the diameter of the femmale) like she is crawling thru a crack. You can feel the ovum. Do not squeeze, just let her crawl thru. This is called palpating and is done all the time without any harm or discomfort to the female.



Once you learn this, you will be able to tell without palpating.



The female will become receptive late in the fat buildup and thru the string of pearls stage.



Once the female copulates, the ovum swell up and move close together, at this time, its hard to count the ovum. Not impossible, just harder.



Also, the day a female drops ovum and they migrate into the oviducts, she appears sick and tender. Often requir ing only to return to normal the next day. again, this only takes a day.



This works on most snakes and is easy with hogs are they are soft bodied. Hard bodied species are a little harder, but with experience it works here too.



My old friend use to carry a silk hanky, and palpated every snake he held, wild ones, others pets, captives of all manner.



If you do this on a regular basis, you will learn a whole lot you did not know before.



If it was practiced here, there would not be any winter surprises.



I am not a believer of the term, "hibernate or brumate" as it is not accurate as to what snakes do. THey LIVE at cold or cool temps. Not go thru a winter sleep. Keepers force that so they can have time off(i am guessing)



Their base is cool and move to heat for specific purposes.



I am a fan of supporting a wide range of temps and allow the snakes to choose what they want. Best wishes

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