Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Cleaning cages tonight I decided to use the Doppler on the gravid BRBs. Of seven that I was pretty sure were gravid I found fetal heart tones in six of them. One of the six I could only find one fetal heart tone so I am not sure if she is carrying mostly slugs or not. The one female that I could not find any fetal heart tones in is a smallish four year old and it may be that the smaller radius of curvature of her ribcage prevents the large Doppler probe from making an adequate acoustic seal even though I used lots of ultrasnot (ultrasound gel). I am sure she is gravid and still think she has live babies. A couple of the snakes are close to due dates and many fetal heart tones were easy to find in them. BRBs that are due further out were more difficult to find multiple fetal heart tones. I also checked my CRB and Isla Marajo and Peruvians that I was pretty sure were not gravid and found no fetal heart tones in any of them. The Doppler fetal heart monitor is proving to be a useful tool.
Jeff

I still haven't invested in a doppler although I want one. Since I am not a breeder I find it hard to justify for my purpose. I have talked two people into buying them though: one a Leonberger breeder and another for their French Bulldogs. Both have had limited success thus far. I've been watching the posts regarding their use and hoping it proves valuable to keepers of all species. Although I have not tried it, was wondering if the water balloon trick might be useful in this situation. Are you supposed to be able to hear each of the individuals heart beat and by doing so predict the live births by number in the litter?

Linda
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When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

Linda,
....You probably know far more about veterinary sonography than I do. The only balloon and Doppler I know about is in human sonography using a baloon inside the esophagous to inflate it to seperate blood vessels so that a sonogram can more easily differentiate them. So far what I am learning using a 3 megaherz fetal heart monitor is that it is ineffective until fairly late in gravidity. I was unable to detect heart tones in very many snakes until the last month. Fetal snakes are so small early in developement that their heart beats seem to be too small to detect with these instruments. Perhaps a higher frequency would be more effective. Limiting factors are that the Doppler probes for 2 and 3 megaherz are pretty large and so it is hard to get a good acoustic seal against the snake's skin and so much of the sound is lost rather than detected. It is also difficult to use if the snake is moving because the snake's scales make noise during movement. Actually detecting and counting each fetal snake seems like it would be pretty tedious though likely possible late in gravidity.
Jeff

>>I still haven't invested in a doppler although I want one. Since I am not a breeder I find it hard to justify for my purpose. I have talked two people into buying them though: one a Leonberger breeder and another for their French Bulldogs. Both have had limited success thus far. I've been watching the posts regarding their use and hoping it proves valuable to keepers of all species. Although I have not tried it, was wondering if the water balloon trick might be useful in this situation. Are you supposed to be able to hear each of the individuals heart beat and by doing so predict the live births by number in the litter?
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>>Linda
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>> When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. When the student is ready, the teachers appears.

Don't know if it works, but have heard a balloon filled with water put between the subject and probe can give less interference, maybe it could provide a better seal.

Linda,
...Very interesting. Makes me think I should try it with the snake submerged in water.
Jeff

>>Don't know if it works, but have heard a balloon filled with water put between the subject and probe can give less interference, maybe it could provide a better seal.