Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Howdy all!

Been a long while since I last posted...mostly waiting to see if I ever get to post this question since I've been trying to breed boas for the past...oh 5 years? lol

So this is Miss Hector. She is a melanistic nicaraguan (at least by appearance...no one knows what she might have in store for us if we actually get babies!) and has been paired up for several months with Ash, my type II anery nicaraguan.

Before viewing the pictures, note this...she has refused several weeks worth of meals so that is NOT a rat in her. She has been raised by me since I got her back in 2002 as a juvie and is a sweetheart. Anyhoo, I was cleaning out their cage and separating them for another feeding attempt (the male has only refused a few meals here or there but is eating just fine again) and when she sprawled out I saw this. She's VERY thick from where the buldge starts to her vent. I'm hopeful and crossing my fingers...but can't really allow myself to get too excited unless I come home to some lively minis of her slithering around.

Thoughts from everyone? Does it look like I might finally have my year? I have not noticed her growing plump because Ash is always courting her and always curled around her so I tried not to disturb them...but today he was under the hide away from her. She normally get's a feeding about ~14 days being an adult and has always been muscular, but I'd say we got a bit more than muscle right now. hehe
Again it's been awhile since I plast posted so you'll have to copy and paste these links to view them:

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/TenorGoddess/MissHectorposspreggers2.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/TenorGoddess/MissHectorupclose.jpg

Hugs!

Amanda Rose

Looks like something is going on. I'm not used to
looking at thin little Nic Boas ,LOL

You will have to wait and see

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

LOL I take it you deal with larger boas. ;D She's always been a nice, muscular, healthy girl, just never seen her like this until now so I'm crossing my fingers. ;D
Thank you for posting the photos too!

Hugs,

Amanda Rose

What's her temperature?
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK

Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site

Her body temperature is between 83.2F - 84.3 (measured different areas of her lower 1/3) but her basking spot is set at 92F.
She goes between laying coiled up to mostly coiled with her upper 1/2 sometimes just a little away.
This is what I could get while my male was eyeballing me (she's sweet but he is not). He tried to tag me twice while I reached in to get readings of her actual body temp with my infrared handheld. Yeesh. LOL I kept them together thinking "what if this is just her ovulation?" so I didn't want to miss it.

Hugs,

Amanda Rose

I meant "what if she's having her PRE-ovulation" so I didn't want to assume it was just her ovulation and that I might be "safe" not having the male in there or perhaps going to drop soon (in the next couple weeks perhaps) but...if it's her pre-ovulation swelling, I do need to keep him in there correct?

Hugs and thanks for the responses thus far!

Amanda Rose

A gravid female will normally measure 88-90 degrees. If a female does not have access to a warm enough place, she will be pretty active looking for a warmer place. That behavior has let me know more than once that I had a female that was gravid whose ovulation I had missed. That 88-90 temperature is assuming there is a warm enough place to rest. 92 should be warm enough and given the fact that she is much lower in temperature, I would say she is not carrying live babies. Could be slugs though. Then again, it could be as you said, she may be ovulating or gearing up to ovulate.

Good luck!
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK

Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site

I'm going to try and make sure my angles for reading her body temps are absolutely correct today, even if I have to hold up a small shield between me and the male.
I wanted to make sure I wasn't reading the bedding, cage or him (and he was right up against her yesterday when I put him back in but not all over her like usual).
I'm beginning to think, based of reading on your site last night and things said here, she probably is ovulation (crossing fingers). I'd hate to get slugs my first litter but I know I wouldn't be the first person to get a first litter of slugs. That would just mean hopefully better luck next season.

Hugs,

Amanda Rose

It looks to me like possible ovulation. When was her last shed? When did you remove the male?

Here is a shot of my hypo Nic during her ovulation this year...

And here she is stuffed with babies...

Amie

She just shed a couple days ago and I removed the male only to clean and feed them because after trying different methods these past 5 years, I've seen no results so this year, I tried keeping them together for over the past 5 months and this is the first time I've ever seen my girl plump like this. Until the past few days, my male has never left her side and always wrapped around a portion of her. Lately, he's taken to resting on the opposite side of the cage.

Hugs,

Amanda Rose

I would say that he's probably done his job then, it's all up to her now.

Amie