Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so I am attempting this for the first time. My female is 1500 grams. I put them together and witnessed lock for the first time 8-12, and then again on 8-30. After that the female showed no interest. Shortly after that she started hanging out on the cooler side of the cage. Lately her mid-section has gotten about 1.5 times its normal size. She just went into a shed cycle. Is this a normal shed cycle or should I be high tailing it to getting an incubator?
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1.0 100% het albino ball python (Junah)
0.1 normal Ball python (Alana)
01 50% het albino Retail Boa (Hitomi)

I'm not sure? Has she just ate a big rat? Did you observe ovulation or is this just a building phase?

She has been getting small meals every two weeks since she lost interest in mating and started hanging out on the cold side of the tank. Being that I have never breed, I am not really sure what I am looking for. She has just been swelling quite a bit in the last weeks.
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1.0 100% het albino ball python (Junah)
0.1 normal Ball python (Alana)
01 50% het albino Retail Boa (Hitomi)

Ovulation is very obvious, you can't miss it. They look like they swallowed a football with a scrunched tail behind the lump, and they are very bright and colorful. They "glow".

This was one of my girls ovulating last year:

This should help you:

www.ballpythons.ca/gallery/breeding.html
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

you can miss it not this year but 2 years ago my female ball had like no huge swell tho last year i think she ate two huge footballs lol but the one time there was like no swelling at all and she popped out 6 eggs.

Is there a possibility that she did it and you didn't happen to check her that day? It only lasts about 24 hours, so it can be missed if you aren't checking them regularly. When I said it was hard to miss, I meant for those that check like every 2 seconds like me. LOL!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

i go abotu every 3 seconds to check on them lol 1-2 times a day and soemtimes a peak at night i alwasy check on breeders lol not pulling them out checking but enought o see if she would of ovulated and swelled. she is a backwards snake tho the year where she showed not 1 sign of gravid i got 6 eggs and the year she showed all signs i got nothing lol. this past season was her first 100% text book breeding lol swellign shedding dates everythgin she finaly read the book lol. this year she is lined up with a big cinny well not yet but will be in another month or so

Hey Tim
Can you please tell my snakes to read the book! LOL!

I am also getting antsy about all these signs etc.

just out of curiosity, if its your first time, why are you going to "run" and get an incubator? im not questioning your decision i was just wondering hwy incubate yourself when i snake can do it. i am debating on that decision right now and was just looking for input.

sorry, apparently i am having grammar problems tonight.....maybe its the newcastle..haha.... i was just wondering why you made the decision to incubate over the mother incubating.

My main concern is that the snake is housed in a 40 gallon breeder enclosure. The top is mesh. I use a ceramic heat lamp and under tank heater with a thermostat on one side and a humidifier for humidity. I live over a garage with a hot water heater in it. I have two heater vents in my (tiny) room and often times am quite off from what the hallway thermostat says the temps are. Mainly I worry that because temps in my room are so variable it will be too much for the eggs.

I found a nonworking mini-fridge and plan to keep it with heat tape and water jugs with a thermostat. I figure the weatherstripping on the fridge will do more to keep the temps stable. Besides, my girl was a virgin and only 1500 grams. I have been feeding her small meals since she started hanging out on the cooler side, and I will be happier when she goes back to eating.
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1.0 100% het albino ball python (Junah)
0.1 normal Ball python (Alana)
01 50% het albino Retail Boa (Hitomi)

thanks for the insite. i have a year or two before i will have to deal with eggs, but i want to know my game plan well a head of time. good luck.

Pretty much everyone reports higher success rates using an incubator, since temps and humidity can be kept exactly right.

It also allows the female to move on and start eating again sooner.