Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice or recommendations on the subject. I know some people try to completely minimize stress when breeding, minimal cleaning and movement. Any input is greatly appreciated. Mike

My hog would stop eating while she was pregnant, I have a
pregnant amarali now who it seems will eat every week if I
let her.

I know you should stop feeding about a month before the due date,
but I am also curious if anyone has over-done it, and what the
consequences were...

Would the babies be re-absorbed?

I think she would push out premies or slugs or whatever you she carrying but could be wrong
Bob

Once ovulation has occurred, nothing can be "re-absorbed". There is no biological mechanism for this. So SOMETHING (either babies or preemies or slugs)will be "born".
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Brad Chambers

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Hi, everyone!
I HAVE had a bad experience. The first time I bred boas (or really, they bred themselves), I didn't/couldn't feed either of them anything and everything turned out well. My slug/baby ratio wasn’t great, but I got 21 perfect babies, one with spinal abnormalities and 16 slugs.
The second time, I decided to try feeding during the period when the female was gravid to see if it helped. The female ate like clockwork and I believe I reduced the feeding regimen.
The female produced all slugs, but I'm not sure that's related to the feeding. However, since she had been "holding it," the fecal matter ate its way through her intestines (I believe it would be called peritonitis in humans) and her cloaca ceased to function at all. Even after 2 separate 4 hour corrective surgeries, she was still unable to defecate through it. Eventually, she literally blew a hole in her side to pass the feces. Since she had a hole in her side and couldn't defecate properly, we had to put her down.
Of all the animals I've ever owned, I’ve had two favorites, her and a male named "Voodoo" (which is where my screen name comes from). They were both FREE boas that I got from people that didn't want them. This was before there were any boa morphs that I knew of, but still they were my favorites. I was so hearbroken. Incidentally, I lost Voodoo and Eve (the female in the story) within three months of each other. Not a good time for me!
I know that many people very successfully feed almost until birth, but I won’t do that again! I’m sure if you follow their guidelines, everything will be fine. I haven’t had any problems breeding BCI and A. dumerili with no feedings at all. However, I feed them well during the feeding season and I do drop temps. I still believe that there’s more than one way to raise and breed healthy boas.
Good luck!
Aaron

I like to feed my boas during breeding and after they're pregnant.

During breeding, I'll give them half their normal amount of food every 2 weeks.

During gestation, I'll give them 1/4 their normal amount weekly or bi-weekly. It all depends on how "hungry" the female acts during gestation.

I offer them their last meal about 6 weeks before they're due.

I do regular cage cleanings as needed. I haven't had a problem with removing the females from the cages when they're pregnant. I'm just careful and support their weight properly. If you're using a wood substrate it's pretty easy to clean half the cage at a time and you normally don't have to remove the female at all. My females get sort of aggressive, so I still have to remove them.

Normally they don't soil their cages as much during the last 4 weeks of gestation. I normally only have to do spot cleaning. If you're using Aspen it's easier to spot clean. If they do soil their cage to the point where they need a full cleaning, I just "very carefully" remove them and clean. Sometimes I'll put a plastic tub in there and coax them into it to remove them more easily. If your females will allow you to clean half the cage at a time, then that's the best way to go.

As far as problems go?? I don't have any experience with problems from feeding during breeding or gestation. I have "read" that if you feed them too much or to close to their due date, it can cause them to give birth prematurely. I'm guessing that too much food or feeding too close to the due date will cause them to "pass babies", when they're trying to "pass poop". That's just a guess. I could be wrong.

>>As far as problems go?? I don't have any experience with problems from feeding during breeding or gestation. I have "read" that if you feed them too much or to close to their due date, it can cause them to give birth prematurely. I'm guessing that too much food or feeding too close to the due date will cause them to "pass babies", when they're trying to "pass poop". That's just a guess. I could be wrong.

Birth is initiated by hormones, hormones that are probably released once the babies' oxygen needs exceed that which they can get from the mother's blood supply. So, trying to take a big poo is not necessarily going to cause the mother to have babies instead. Different systems and thus different muscles involved. How many pregnant women have you met that tried to take a poo but had a baby instead?

However, I would imagine that the divergence of blood flow that goes towards digesting instead of towards the babies could have a negative effect on the babies' blood supply. The amount of blood needed to digest a large meal may take enough away from the babies that they are born prematurely, because they need more oxygen than they can get from that decreased blood flow.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

I've never heard of baby boas getting oxygen from the mother's blood supply. I've always thought they developed in an egg sac and were fed by a yolk. I don't know where they would get their oxygen from. I've actually never given any thought to how they get oxygen during developement.

Are you saying there's a direct blood supply to each of the babies from the mother boa?? If so, where did you get this info. I'd like to check it out too.

I would like to say that it's a theory that the need for oxygen is the trigger for birth. I got the idea from Pythons of the World, Volume II, by the Barkers. They had a theory that since ball python eggs have the beginnings of embryos in them at the time they are laid, the embryos must be beginning to develop inside the mother. They thought that the embryo's need for oxygen in the egg triggered a ball python to lay the eggs.

I dissected a rattlesnake killed on my family's property about 2 years ago, and when I opened it up found it to be pregnant. The sacs around the babies had blood vessels that connected to the mother's. I did not have a camera at the time to take pictures, unfortunately.

Since baby boas spend their entire developmental span inside the mother, and oxygen is a requirement for development, it's logical to say that the mother's blood supply is how that oxygen reaches the babies. I can't think of any other way the babies would get the oxygen needed to develop.

I will look to see if there's been anything published about the vascular system of gravid females and how it relates to their young...but I suspect that's yet another aspect of reptile biology that hasn't been studied. (try and find anything about pigments in reptile skin - for all that we obsess about the colors of our snakes, there is not a single study about what pigments are even in their skin.)

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

What's new Mo! Long time no talk!

I feed males and females every three weeks or so but not the females that last five or six weeks before they are due. Small meals. For instance a seven foot female will get one large rat. This is regardless if she is about to ovulate or not. Most of the time, a female that is right on the verge of ovulating won't eat. I did have one ovulate about two weeks ago just hours after taking a rat though. So they do whatever they want to sometimes... Almost every female will eat while gravid. Very few will not. Course that might be a different story if you have those puppies out doors!

Good luck young man! You and ALLLLL those kids!
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