Jeremy - I just logged on and read your post. I'm so glad you wrote that. I have some things to ask and comment on, but I can't right now. I have horses to feed. Below - is what I just wrote. It takes me so long to organize my thoughts and try not to sound like too much of a NimNull. They are just some ramblings of things I have learned so far....
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Thank you all for your kind comments on my post below. I’m surprised that it made any sense as late as it was, and then typing it all over and trying to remember what I wrote in the first one that disappeared. Man, was I pissed when that happened!

Regarding the ultrasounds and probes: My vet is one Dr in a hospital with several vets and they cater to the whole gamut of critters. Two of the vets specialize in exotics, and mine happens to be a boa and python fanatic. I totally stumbled across him back in 2000, looking for a knowledgeable herp vet. This hospital is in the process of moving to a new facility recently built, and I imagine because of this expense, they have not repaired their ultrasound.

From what I have seen and heard, the probes get the best readings submerged in water. The problem with most of the linear probes is that they are not water “proof”. I understand some people have good luck with trans-rectal probes, which can be used in water. If I end up getting one, I think I may try that kind first. Trans-rectal probes are the type used in large mammals like cattle, horses, camels, etc. They are inserted into the rectum and read through the lining of the rectum and uterus, to the growing fetus. There are different ones for reading different depths or surfaces. The 7.5 MHz seems to be a favorite for boas. I don’t know about smaller or larger snakes. It is all about the depth into the adult female – or - how far the fetuses are from the surface. My vet feels that a linear probe would probably give a clearer reading, but then I haven’t heard of any that are waterproof. I think Sean has had good luck submersing his in water with no problems, but he is aware that it is really not designed to do that.

Needless to say, we do not put my Vet’s ultrasound probe under water. He uses ultrasound gel and occasionally uses a water/alcohol spray mixture. Electrode gel and KY work well too, and those can be purchased anywhere.

We would have probably gotten much better images on Missy if we had submerged the probe and if the machine itself, was working better. The last two ultrasound visits were pretty sad because of the recent probe electrical short. He didn’t even charge me for the last one. We had to use our imaginations to complete the images! It was a bummer because we were all set to count babies and Jessica was such a good girl. We use one of the heated surgery tables, and the boas really like that. She could have stayed there forever lapping up all that attention and exploring all those ears, noses, and eyebrows around her.

Linda Misch asked about positioning the boa. We just let them lie normally but stretched out. It’s better to have two people holding them, so the third can work the probe. I have seen some people use the probe underneath on the belly and they got great pics, however I don’t know the MHz of their probe. My vet probes along the lower and middle sides with his 7.5 MHz linear probe. Like Sean said, find the gallbladder which shows up as a very black blob about halfway down. If you have any boa anatomy pics, that will help. If you don’t, email me and I will copy and email you one. Just south of the gallbladder are the ovaries. If your female is maturing follicles and depending on the quality of image from your ultrasound, you will be able to see the follicles sort of lying around near the ovaries. If they are .5 cent or less, they may be harder to see – again depending on the machine image quality. They will be near, and just south of the ovaries. They won’t necessarily be all the same size. On one female, we have seen follicles from .5 to 1, with an occasional 1.5. I imagine the size difference may have to do with the age of the individual follicles, as in when they were released from the ovary – this is just a guess on my part.

Using the ultrasound in September, October, and again this month, I have been able to track my available females, and determine who had the most follicle development. The females who were closer to a uniform 1.5 to 2 cent seemed to be the ones Murphy was interested in first. *This does not include Missy’s weird issue or the Hog Island female.*

I still have two other females that have not begun maturing their follicles at all. Theirs have remained at around .5 since September. My vet seems to think they will begin maturing at some point in the future (on their schedule, not their silly human’s) and suggested I keep a male with them, or whisk one by frequently.

I asked my vet about x-rays harming the boa, the follicles, or developing embryos. He says it will not harm them. I didn’t pursue with further questions, so I don’t know if some x-ray machines might be harmful and others safe, or if they do anything in particular to prevent harm. I will ask him.

HUGE TIP FOR THOSE WHO ARE HAVING PROBLEMS FINDING
A VET WITH AN ULTRASOUND

Call around in your area to all the vets who work on cattle and horses. Many of these vets have portable ultrasounds and 5 to 7.5 MHz probes. They all do “ranch calls” or you can go to them.

During breeding season, these vets ultrasound mares right and left. If you have a horse breeding farm near you that is even better. The bazillion dollar show & race stallions today are all artificially collected. The semen is divided up and put in an extending solution and shipped all over the world. One normal ejaculate from a healthy stallion can be divided up and used for multiple mares. If you are a mare owner, paying for the collection, vet fees, lab work with the semen, the insulated equitainers to keep the semen cooled, and the shipping – you want to ABSOLUTELY KNOW what size follicle your mare has, and the moment it matures because you have a fairly precise amount of time (hours) before that follicle reaches her uterus. That’s how you know when to request shipments of semen. Scheduling all this to work smoothly can be quite a feat.

So - they (the vets) don’t need to know anything about boas. As long as you know the anatomy and can find the gallbladder and then the ovaries, you are in business if the vet is willing. After all, you are paying for the time and the machine, so it really isn’t a big deal “what” kind of critter you are probing. I know horse vets in this area who are perfectly open to this sort of thing. Some have said it would be fun, as well as a learning experience - and no chance of being kicked!! It is a matter of finding the right snake-friendly personality with the machine and the right probe. Once you locate the follicles, most all the machines can be paused for measurements.

If I didn’t have my dear worth-his-weight-in-gold-to-me vet, that is what I would do.

This has gotten too long – too much rambling and I have hungry horses outside calling me bad names. I’ll be back and post some more about Missy, and post her x-rays. If you made it this far, your eyeballs probably need a break as well.

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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

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