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I hate when this happens. So I'm making my rounds and checking on primarily gravid females when I notice a female, that's not gravid, sitting on the heat. It didn't really register. OK, so she's on the heat. She is in a cage that's high up in the air and I have to get on a step stool to look down on her. Otherwise I just see a side view. Well, I didn't climb the steps. Didn't give it much thought really. I've been checking the gravid females for months. I still have a number of males working females over but the breeding is mostly done. I walk by again and again. Sometimes I can be a bit dense. Surprised right? Keep this in mind, the cage below her houses this Boa:

This was one of my favorite Boas from the litter she was born in 2003:

Here she was about a year and a half ago:

She was bred by the little fellow below:

Here he was several months ago working her over:

and another shot at a less tense moment:

and ovulating:

I guess I'm looking forward to that litter a LOT! She was born in 2003. Here was that litter with their Mom, the "Monster Tail" looking them over:

and another little shot.

Oh, and here is the Daddy of the two females I am posting this dribble about:

So finally, what is it that I don't like? I don't like missing ovulations and not knowing when a female is due! Last night I figured I'd check to see what the girl that was sitting on the heat thought she might be doing. Here she is by the way as a tiny baby:

I hadn't taken a lot of pictures of her but here is one in a romantic moment with her little boy friend:

So I climb the golden stairs to see what I might see. Well low and behold there she is in all her glory looking as fat as can be in the heat conservation position looking at me as if to say, "what am I? The ugly step child?" Well, needless to say I am ecstatic! Very much excited about this one as well. Who bred her? I'm glad you asked. This little guy bred her:

Oh, this was a picture I took of him when he was pretty young.

I really don't like not knowing when a female is due. Drives me crazy, but I guess I will just have to wait... it's mostly over, except the long wait for the fat lady to sing sometime between April 1st and June 15th or so. How's that for narrowing down a due date!?!?
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That is a bugger when you don't have a time frame for due date.
Now.. in the case a female has her litter unbeknown to you , how long do you think is safe for the litter to be left unattended before you remove them?
Have you had cases to where a female had babies and had been in with her for a length of time? Any bad results from this i.e crushing or eating of the young? I know in the wild, they dont hang out with mom for too long.

Reason I'm concearned is I might have to be away for a week when one of mine are due, and if she were to have her babies while I am gone..well this drives me nutz!

Any tips on this type of thing..
Thanks Amigo
Mike
By the way, Looks to be a nice litter from those two when it gets here. I need to get some Boaphile blood in my collection someday.

I have left Mom in with babies till after they shed for an experiment. Since switching from Newspaper to Aspen, I have not ever had a single baby that I believe had been squished by Mom. I routinely leave Mom overnight with the babies after I find a litter late at night. Never been a problem. I suspect that Mom hangs out at the birth spot for a while and as long as she is there, the babies hang all over her. It's really quite amazing. Mom all laid out with babies intertwined all over, under and around Mom. I should video tape that. It's really amazing to see.
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NO Post I said!!

The whole maternal behavior in boas is crazy. One of my boas slugged out last year w/ only 6 slugs. I was watching her for an hour or two hoping she would have something else come out(no luck) but the whole time she was rolling her head gently through the slugs trying to pop their birthing sacs. I definitely fealt worse for her loss than mine at that point.

I have actually seen boas eat thier slugs. Pretty nasty but makes sense.

I think i saw it on you tube
Mike

I have BRB's as well and they typically chow down on slugs. Last year one had a still born and it was heart wrenching and fascinating to watch the mom nudging the baby. She even gently picked it up in her mouth mid body and oh so gently chomped on it a few times then set it back down. She did this several times. I really think she was trying to revive her baby / stimulate it into breathing on it's own.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

trip out! In the '07 season i opened a brb hide box to find mom with a stillborn in her mouth and what i guessed to be a half eaten litter of stills. Happened to my friend with his dums a month later. it was a good year to eat your babies

I have seen it in person. I had an 8' female completely slug out on me because I pulled the male too early (dummy) and when I removed her, she had already eaten several of the thirty slugs and was about to go to town on another. Looking back I wish I would have waited to see how many she would have eaten.
jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

she might have ate too many too and that would have been one mess I wouldnt have wanted to clean >
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Pretty cool that you can tie them all back to such young pics, kincluding the male still in the sack!!!

You're just gonna have to wait and see!!!!

BTW, Thanks sooooo much for the data you posted. Looks like about a half dozen of my females musta been reading your notes as they seem to be following them closely!! I've got due dates on 5 from OV and POS and in each case the due dates closely match. worst case one is a three day window. The sixth is due for her POS on Wednesday!!!

Besides those I have a few others that either can't read or are not bilingual (snake vs english) They are not being clear about what they are doing. Are they gravid?? Some look it, some don't. Most that look it are in HCP and keeping toasty.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats