I had a very interesting experience I have not had time to post until now. This was something that happened with this female the other evening and the following morning. She was ovulating in this photograph:
I came upon this female having her babies the other evening. She actually was already done but was still wringing for all she was worth. I could see the babies. Looking like only around 15 babies and just two slugs. There were actually 17 babies but you get the idea. She wasn't done and something was wrong. This same female had given birth to 38 babies and five or six slugs three years ago. She was easily ten lbs. heavier than when she had those babies. She had to have more babies and or slugs in there, right?
That is what I thought. She still looked quite thick. Like it hadn't taken hardly anything out of her. I continued to watch for what seemed like an hour though it was probably more like 10 minutes. Nothing else was coming out except a tiny bit of liquid. So I tried to palpate out whatever was blocking the way. I pulled on her to bring her tail around and squeezed above the cloaca where it looked like the lump was. She fought me every step of the way. I have done this several times before and freed up a too-large slug or gotten a baby that was out of the sack to come out partially, and then pull the rest of it out with great results. She was not happy. In fact she ended up coming off the shelf down to the level below and getting really tense. I didn't get anything out. Too big of a fight from her. I left her to struggle alone. I came back an hour later and she was still going through contractions. This was a long time to be going through contractions without having anything. She kept squeezing and pushing and looked like something was in there. So I tried to palpate her again. This time I did so a little more aggressively knowing that something was in there causing this blockage. Nothing. There had to be a ton more babies or slugs in there, or so I thought. While I had her tail, I did what every good Boa breeder would do given the same circumstances, I stuck my finger as far as I could up her cloaca to feel if anything was there. I could feel nothing but the lining of her cloaca. This is a gross thing to do but, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Nothing there and I felt confident that she was going to be OK. Though by this time she was much more shook up about this little ordeal and my invasion. She was fully off the shelf and the babies were all still on the shelf on the left where she spend most of the last 2 1/2 months in the heat conservation position. She was very upset and I figured I better leave her alone. I thought at some point she would relax a bit and find those babies and just hang out with them like they are prone to do. Then I went to bed.
So I get up the next morning and go straight to that cage to check on her and the kids. Where do you suppose I found her? Right back on the shelf in the exact same heat conservation position! I panic! I can't see any of the babies. None! They are all someplace beneath this 8 1/2' still 30 lb. plus animal right where she had them. I swung open the door hoping to save a few of those tiny lives if I could. I could not believe that that stupid animal had sat right on top of all those beautiful super red babies! I told her she was a stupid snake too! Really! I could not remove her fast enough but I had to be careful in case a few of them were still OK. So I lifted as best I could, which was difficult considering she was already against the top of the cage in that heat conservation position. I lifted carefully, I pulled coils, I removed her completely from the cage and placed her in an empty cage I had across the isle. Then I darted back to see how many were still alive. How many do you think I found alive and how many had been smashed? Crushed under the weight of this reckless beast. Every single solitary one of those babies was still in the same spot where Momma was resting. Sort of in the center of where she was resting really. And every single one of them is absolutely fine. She had crawled back up there and wrapped herself around those babies to protect them from the likes of stinky me. I was surprised for a minute, and then thought to myself that I should not be surprised at all. It was just another example of the miracle of evolution that this animal with a brain the size a pee was able to get back up there and care for those little ones. Another perfect example of what I have seen many times in a female showing maternal instinct and caring for those babies. It was one of the really meaningful moments for me in my Boa breeding career. This is all really great fun indeed.
