Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Jalisco Milks copulated in mid january, and the female is now gravid. This is the first time that i have bred this male to this female, but she has successfully layed 11 egg clutches in the past years. I can clearly tell that she is gravid and has a number of eggs in her abdomen... more than last year. The problem is, shes been gravid since mid january and its now toward the end of may. Last year it only took 3 months or so before she layed... has anyone heard of a snake being gravid this long???
Im takin her to a local vet this weekend to see whats goin on. Any suggestions or information is welcome. Thanks in advance,

-Kevin Scott

I'd guess that you actually paired them before the female was ovulating and ready (this year AND last) and that she's simply reproducing with retained sperm. I'd guess a normal cycle would be for her to lay no more than 75 days after copulating, and probably closer to 50-60 days after. My guess is the more logical time to have had her and the male together would have been about 60 days ago. And my guess is that she'll lay about ten days after her next shed. (You could help others here by specifying the dates of her past sheds, btw)

I'm guessing because I have no specific knowledge of jaliscos and there may be something about their breeding behavior that's way diff than other lampropeltis. But I'm trying to help you some, AND the scientific method is to hypothesize (ok, i'm hypothesizing, not guessing ) and to then test the hypothesis. So keep us posted on what eventually happens, ok? (and don't forget to post some shed dates for us to ponder).

peace
terry

Im at school right now and i have the shedding dates at home, but i can tell you ROUGHLY when they occured. Her prelayign shed, or what i expected to be her prelaying shed occured about a month ago. The one before that was right before copulation, january 10th i believe. I dont remember any in between the two sheds, but ill check when i get home. Maybe this will help you out a bit and help you determine whats going on. Thanks for the help,
-Kevin