matt's quoted me ok but i'd like to elaborate. I have also observed this phenomenon often referred to as "resorbing their eggs", where an apparently gravid female doesn't lay and then skrinks back to normal girth.

I have several theories:
1) these females actually lay and eat their eggs: the eggs are gradually digested and the snake gradually shrinks. On at least two occasions such egg eating has been reported.
2) the snake isn't really gravid (containing eggs); it's merely ovulating. The swelling is of tissue accommodating the onset of reproductive activity. Bumps can be felt that are ova, not eggs. For unknown reasons the process does not proceed to fertilization and shelling. In the absence of that progress, the process eventually reverses, tissues shrink, ova shrink, perhaps to be saved for the next year, perhaps passed in some inconspicuous way.
3) eggs are actually shelled but retained. tissues shrink but the eggs are still there. My vet reports finding eggs in a female that, based on condition, he believes are eggs from the prior year. Sometimes these retained eggs become septic, the focal points for infection, thus they're not merely benign.

Like Matt, I look forward to others' experiences, opinions, etc.

peace
terry

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