Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a WC pyro from New Mexico (last weekend actually). It has ate one small mouse and has defecated already. Now it's swollen on the back half of her body. Is she going to lay eggs? The snake was WC, about 26" in length. No other food was eaten besides a fuzzy mouse.

What say you?

I would get the egg laying container ready... but usually in my experience the bulge is right down to the vent before they lay. Maybe it is follicle development or ovulation?

You should ask Rainer (Bluerosy) --- he has a lot more experience in breeding this stuff than most people in here and he helped me when I was getting started.

- Peter

I don't think so. The swelling looks too high and too localized. It looks like food to me.

But you never know, especially without gettin my hands on her. A nest box couldn't hurt anything.

The thing is, it didn't have this bulge when I caught her. I fed one mouse which was digested and crapped out. Now it's swelling up. It's definitely not food...but it doesn't mean I think she's gonna lay eggs. I just know it's not food.

She could be ovulation or be gravid. Get a male or wait for the shed and then get some laying meduim in her cage. Hopefully she hooked up with a male right before you found her.

BTW if you found her in a rock pile you should go back and get the male who is probably following her scent. Nothing like a locale specific breeding pair from the wild. Finding a breeding pair is about as locale specific as you can get!
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"Yeah ya told me, and ya wrote it down too. But how the hell am I supposed to remember!"

Well, we looked all around that area she was in. We actually did find two more pyros, but they were last year's babies. No other adults. If she's not gonna lay eggs, that's fine. I'll head out to that spot again and see if I can't find her a mate. But just having a nice pet is good for me too.