Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everbody,
I posted last week because I was worried about my gravid BP not laying 34 days past her Apr 18 pre-lay shed. Got great responses and really appreciate them. Now for something completely differet...She's clouded over and going into another shed cycle. I'm posting pic of her in her egg dep box May 11 so you can see I'm not crazy, she's gravid and looked ready to lay any day. My BP's don't even defecate until after they shed so I'm sure she won't lay eggs until then. Ecdysis is requires alot of work. Can she do this while so heavily gravid? Anybody had this happen before? Thanks in advance.
Paul

Hi I also had this same thing happen with my first gravid female this year. I thought she was going through a pre-lay shed in mid December becuase she was HUGE and looked like she was going to pop. I got really scared when day 35 came and went. But she ended up and didn't have a pre lay shed until march and laid on April 1. This whole time she looked extremely uncomfortable, and did alot of lying belly up and all the activities that point to her being gravid, so I just waited it out. My best advice is for you to do the same thing. Patience is such a key word to remember with breeding. Hope this helps, Jason

I would say that this is her prelay shed and the last shed was actually not the prelay shed at all and was instead the "preovulation" shed. I usually see a time frame of about 6-8 weeks from the preovulation shed to the prelay shed. As the follicles are growing it sometimes makes the female appear gravid and so the shed is thought to be the prelay shed when actually it is the preovulation shed. I remember your post from the other day and you was talking about how see isn't using the hot spot in the cage which also makes sence to me now, I would bet that she will start using the hot spot more now that the eggs are growing at a rapid rate. Females generally stay on the cool side of the cage until they ovulate and sometimes wait until after the prelay shed to start basking. Hope this makes sence to you, by the way I'd try lowering your basking temps a little, a 86-90 hot spot is plenty, if I remember correctly you have a 90-95 hot spot which is more than you need! Good luck, Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles. www.strictlyregius.com