Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my first time breeding, and as far as I know, my 9', 43lb female argentine is gravid by my male albino. My Albino male was breeding her nonstop from late october-january. (with breaks inbetween determined by me)

She ovulated January 18, and swelled up worse than I ever could have imagined. Looked like she swallowed a horse, automobile, a few pigs, and a frog. That was 2 months ago. The ovulation swelling went down, and now she appears normal. her basking habits are everything you'd expect from a gravid female, no eating, rather snippy at times.

How long should it be before I start to see her swelling up with babies? Or since she is not yet, should I expect slugs?

....now this is from "The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas", by Ross and Marzec (1990).,,,,,(this is not verbatim).....when the ova are released from the ovary they are fully mature and increase very little in size after ovulation. in a mammal the baby increases in size as nutrients are passed from the mother to the baby (resulting in a swelling in the uterus), in a boa the nutrients are all in the yolk of the ovum, so the embryo grows and uses up the yolk....the size of the growing boa basically filling the void left by the decreasing yolk. so "basicallly" a boa does not swell greatly as the babies grow like a mammal would. hope this helps, john yocum