Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

gravid or not?

raisnok May 25, 2009 09:21 PM

in early i sept i put my male boa dagda in with my female vesta.
they mated.

he stopped the first week of nov.

she refused to eat nov, then again in dec.
she shed in dec.

then ate a small rat which left a lump.(from the photo you can tell a small rat really shouldnt do any thing)

jan she refused to eat.

march she ate a small rat(left another lump)
march 16 she shed.

april she refused to eat.

she does have a slight lump.

this month may 7 she ate a small rat had a huge lump this time.

the temp in the enclosure is 90 i catch her during the day going to the cooler side which is in the 80s.

im guessing shes gravid but i know i could be wrong aswell.

in everyones opinion is she gravid
please note the photo was taken before the breeding ever occured

this is my female vesta..........

this is the male dagda....

Replies (5)

LSD May 26, 2009 08:11 PM

Going by the information supplied... I'd say not gravid.

Here's why.

"in early i sept i put my male boa dagda in with my female vesta.
they mated."

OK, this part sounds good. He was breeding during the right time of year.

"he stopped the first week of nov."

OK, this part also sounds good. He was breeding then he lost interest. That's "normally" the way it goes. I have to wonder if you removed him from her cage at this point......

"she refused to eat nov, then again in dec.
she shed in dec."

Once again.... This part sounds good. I always look for that refusing food from the female, to know that she's going to ovulate soon. Then she had a shed "after" your male lost interest, so "in theory" this is good sign.

"then ate a small rat which left a lump.(from the photo you can tell a small rat really shouldnt do any thing)"

This is good. My females always take a meal after the POS.

"jan she refused to eat."

Refusing food doesn't mean gravid, but since "some" female stop eating after they're gravid... This sounds good.

"march she ate a small rat(left another lump)"

OK, you fed her in "March"???? OK, lets do some math. She was in with the male in sept. He lost interest in Nov. She shed in Dec... You didn't say the date, so I'll figure it was Mid-Dec. So... We count 15 weeks from Dec 15th...... That comes out to March 30th for a due date. Can you see why I say not gravid? Sooooooo, let refigure it.

"march 16 she shed."
OK, another shed. Gravid boas do shed, but... I really don't think she's gravid. This is probably just a shed.

"april she refused to eat."

Once again... This is a sign I look for, that a female is going to ovulate. My females always refuse food when they're gong to ovualte.

"she does have a slight lump."

My females always have a slight lump when they refuse food. My theory is that folicles are forming, so there's a "slight lump or firmness". Not a swelling, but a lump. Sort of like they ate a small meal, only they didn't and there's a lump there.

"this month may 7 she ate a small rat had a huge lump this time."

Well, small rats won't make a "huge lump"...... However.... This huge lump, "could" have been an ovulation. If you removed the male back in Nov..... Well, she's not gravid. Unless, she manages to retain sperm.

"the temp in the enclosure is 90 i catch her during the day going to the cooler side which is in the 80s."

Cage temps are good. Gravid females "normally" stayed coiled up to stay warm. If you have a temp gun, you can check her temperature. A gravid female will be between 86 and 88 degrees. Of course, a boa that's not gravid could also be that warm, since your temps are 90 on the warm end.

"im guessing shes gravid but i know i could be wrong aswell."

I'm still guessing she's not gravid. I hope I'm wrong, but from the info you've given... She should have had them by now.

"please note the photo was taken before the breeding ever occured"

Do you have any pictures of what she looks like now??

Anyway, you didn't say if you removed the male. If you removed the male in Nov... It's more likely that's she's not gravid.

Do you have anymore info that would be helpful? Why are you guessing she's gravid? Has her behaviour changed? Is her rear half very swollen?? Did you figure out a due date? Did you see actual copulation or just him "courting"?

raisnok May 26, 2009 09:21 PM

Anyway, you didn't say if you removed the male. If you removed the male in Nov... It's more likely that's she's not gravid.

** he was removed from the enclosure at the end of january.

Do you have anymore info that would be helpful? Why are you guessing she's gravid? Has her behaviour changed? Is her rear half very swollen?? Did you figure out a due date? Did you see actual copulation or just him "courting"?

im guessing shes gravid because of the sporadic feeding, normally for her she eats and never refuses a meal.
i figured the due date to be sometime in march, i was wrong on that.
yes that back half of her body is swollen..
and yes i seen then copulate several times.

from what i have understood it could take longer than average with some boas to give birth

LSD May 27, 2009 10:56 AM

Do you have any "current" pictures of the female or pictures of the lumps??

Colombian boas "basically" take 18 weeks from ovulation or 15 weeks from the Post Ovulation shed. Some will go a couple of weeks over that, but not that often. Going excessively beyond that 15/18 week period is the exception and not the normal gestation period. Boas that go excessively beyond the normal gestation period are more likely gravid from sperm retention. Meaning.... "Yeah they got bred, but they ovulated much later." Sometimes litters from sperm retention come out perfect. Other times they don't.

In order for a female go be gravid... She has to have been with a male. The male must be producing vialble sperm. He must make a deposit of sperm. Then the female "must" ovulate. The ovulation swell can be subtle or "huge". You really can't go by a female not feeding to decide she's gravid. If your female didn't ovulate... Then she's not gravid.

Did you see an ouvlation?? An ovulation "normally" looks like the female swallowed a football. Other times the entire third half of the female will appear "very swollen" and the female will look uncomfortable. There will be "lots" of scale seperation.

Sometimes the ovulation will be small. They're harder to tell it's an ovulation, when it's small, but not impossible.

You said you removed the male at the end of Jan.... When did he stop breeding her? Was it Nov or Jan??

raisnok May 27, 2009 01:56 PM

You said you removed the male at the end of Jan.... When did he stop breeding her? Was it Nov or Jan??

he stopped breeding her in nov, i left him in there til jan.

im trying to get some photos.

LSD May 27, 2009 08:35 PM

OK,
I'll wait for the pictures.

It's sort of hard to determine if a boa gravid if you can't see them. Actually, it can be hard to tell even if you can see them.

Site Tools