Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My spider male bred all my 3 normals (between 1700 and 2100 grams) since the second half of december. I cooled em on the standard way since mid november. I raised gradually the temps since 14th february and on 24 feb i had regime tems of 88 with a basking spot of 90-91. All females shed between 20 febryary and 5 march, almost contemporary and after the shed they were more lighty coloured expecially in the head-neck area. After the shed they continued to breed one or two times each since 15 march, after that the male is no more interested. They ate sporadically since the shed and now they are totally off feed. I didn't noticed exactly huge body swelling but i'm not checking them oftenly because i'm not all days at home and they're coiled in the darker and cooler part of the cages sometimes whith theyr bodyes laying on the side. What you think? Have they already ovulated or they're just developing follcicles? I removed em few times and tryed to check the svelling also palpating em but i cannot feel exactly the eggs. The smaller one seems to be full, like she would eat a medium rat, the others are quite heavy bodied and i cannot feel difference but i'm not expert at all in that. I'm sorry if i'm bothering you but i'm quite excited on that and i just want to know your opinion on what is happening.
Here's the pic of the last breeding i noticed. There you can see the ghost like colour of the female.

Thank you and sorry for the long post.

Flavio

I am at the same point with my girls. My girls are building follicles now,but havent ovulated yet. You can see in the lower mid-section they are starting to get a swollen area. I would palpate them and see if you can feel the follicles. With some practice, you can even tell how many eggs she should throw.

It sounds like you are right on track. I figure my girls will ovulate over the next few weeks and lay eggs late Mayish.

Best of luck.

My bet is they have not ovulated, but are close. I keep either 55oz. or 104oz. water dishes for humidty and I have found that most of my girls get in there prior to/during/after/ their ovulation. Some have stayed IN their dish for 2 weeks and then had their pre-lay shed. Letting them have access to soaking has been a helpful clue. Hope this helps.
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Bill Buchman