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it's just about birthing time?

Greetings

The latest on Midnight and the girls (Odin and Freya) is that we finally gave in and put Midnight down on 11/29. He'd had a bad weekend of hard breathing, and I just couldn't take not being able to do anything for him-- fungal and bacterial cultures this time were both negative, so short of a snake respirator....*shrug* We told the vet to necropsy him and take all samples needed for the Univ. of Georgia to run their IBD testing (that's where our vet sends to). So hopefully now we'll know if our impending clutches really are in danger.

The girls are both HUGE, and if the saddle count on a boa is only the "real" saddles before they start turning into 'faces' or spots going into the tail, then their swellings are 3/4 down. Both last ate a large rat on 11/13. Still no feces since before 9/17. Ian, in answer to your humidity question, I'm still spraying them heavily 2x per day-- we got a Vicks humidifier, but I think we're burning it out by trying to leave it on 24 hours---there are times I come home and it hasn't been pushing out mist. Last urates were 10/20 (Odin, after a 10/13 med rat and lg rat), and 10/23 (Freya after 10/19 lg rat).

Given their possible breeding exposure to Midnight, we could be expecting babies any time between now and April. Are there any signs which would help narrow that window down??

Sorry for the long post, and thank you for your time.
Antigone

If you're burning out the humidifier, try doing it only during the day. It's okay for humidity to cycle up and down.

I havn't bred boas often, but spending time in the hide box was indication in my experience. It's quite possible that they didn't mate if they were only exposed from April onward as it's a little late in the season. If you really want to know if they are prego, an Xray will let you know for sure (assuming it's late gestation). Otherwise, there's no harm in just waiting to see what happens. Mommy will do all the work

I'm sorry about your male, but in the end, it sounds like it was the right decision.

Ian

Hi

Thanks for the reassurance about Midnight. I still feel guilty.

Odin did spend more time trying to hide under papertowel last time; but this time she's in the hidebox most of the time, and still coming out at night. Often she's on top of the hidebox.
Freya doesn't have a hidebox exactly(her tank was too narrow for the same box Odin has), more like a plasic igloo to partly hide under. She's actually been spending a lot of time lying full-out lately, bent in half along the length of the tank rather than coiled at one end.
I'm not sure either of the girls would be very pleasant about being picked up and out of their tank right now--Odin hissed the other day when I tried to push her slightly away from the opening to the hidebox *chuckle* It's also snowing and our vet is over an hour away. Barring emergency, they're gonna stay home.

Do you really think that we could be looking at a slew of slugs?? That's almost as bad as getting coal in my stocking for Xmas. ;/

Thanks again
Antigone

A slough of slugs? Nope, if she's prego, she's prego, the chances of slug verse baby is the same as with any other clutch unless something else entirely is at play here. If she is prego, you'd expect to see baby skeleton's, that's all the X-ray is for. If none, then she's likely not pregnant. False pregnancy occurs in some animals, and while not proven in snakes, it might not be uncommon when hearing of accounts of "resorbed" litters or clutches.

Ian