This 2010-2011 Boa breeding season marks the 26th Boa breeding year for me. I am very happy to report that an old dog can learn new tricks. I have stumbled upon more interesting reproductive behaviors in Boas that I am going to share here. It’s my belief that sharing information can be helpful to all and that I, since I am a part of the whole Boa and Reptile breeding community, benefit directly from other people gaining knowledge and becoming more successful. We ALL do. I have always believed that and whether I revealed something that I was fortunate to stumble upon, or something that someone else first mentioned to me and I confirmed, these disclosures have always benefited all those involved in our hobby.
Disclaimers:
- Boas cannot read.
- Even if you read this to your Boas, they may not follow these details. Shocking I know.
- Not every Boa behaves in exactly the way that I have outlined.
- These details are an “average” only and are not intended as immovable doctrine.
- All or most of this occurs while the male is courting the female. Some females can start without the presence of a male, while others will not show any of these signs until after the male is introduced.
- Yes, some of this I have written about before but much of it I have not.
Maybe I was able to observe these additional details leading up to ovulation because I am trying to breed fewer females this season than in years past. Maybe it’s because I have physically checked on them more often than I have in previous years. I am not sure. But I am sure I have observed a number of additional very subtle changes that occur in the cycling female that I have not observed heretofore. Here are those observations.
The available healthy female Boa will begin to prepare for possible breeding when triggered by certain conditions. I believe the main trigger for my Boas is the drop in humidity that occurs here in the Fall. I do not deliberately cool, though some minimal cooling is inevitable as the dog days of summer are gone. The temperatures never creep up into the mid 80s like they can on occasion in Summer. This subtle change is likely a contributor to the entire process. The drop in humidity and lack of those warm days are suspected to bring females around to that “window of opportunity” period I have written about extensively before. This is the typical breeding season reality for my animals.
In order to observe these changes with confidence, experience is the only teacher. Most of what I am going to detail cannot be seen very well in a photograph. The subtle changes will not be noted by the impatient or those without the innate ability to “remember” what a particular animal looked like a month before. The subtle changes do not have a universal precise definition or appearance. As in, I could not observe these changes in YOUR animals even if I was looking at them in the flesh, let alone a photograph as I have no record in my mind’s eye of what each animal normally looks like. Only you can observe these changes. The changes are more easily observed on females that are NOT massive in girth. The more heft a female is carrying, the more difficult it is to see these little variations from the norm for that animal. I think for most people a single reading of this little article will not be enough for this to click and make sense. I know I would have to read this over and over if someone else would have written this before I did here. So read and reread. So when am I ever going to get around to detailing these changes? I’m getting there…
As the window of opportunity approaches, the female will have a change in her overall body shape. The thinner the female, the easier this change is to see. Females develop egg follicles and the materials used for these follicles comes from two likely sources. Fat stores and food. Food intake is not what causes the proportional changes that can be seen so much before ovulation. The depletion of some of the fat stores can be seen. Fat is stored throughout the body cavity in snakes. Some of these fat stores are utilized to nourish or provide the energy stores needed to make the “food” that makes up the yellow part of the follicles. The front half of the body will begin to thin out very slightly as the egg follicles located in the ovaries begin to expand and cause the back half of the body to look “thicker”. The cycling female as she develops these egg follicles tends to stretch out more than the female that is not developing egg follicles.
As the front half of the body thins ever so slightly, the back half grows. This growth is different from normal growth in that it tends to give the female a more round and soft appearance. Normal Boas have lateral striations due to their heavy musculature. Most of the time these express themselves with definition running from front to back at the back and the sides along the entire body length to the tail. When developing follicles, the area in the vicinity of the ovaries tends to take on that more round or soft appearance I referred to earlier. The ovaries are centered at a point about 30% forward from the vent toward the head. This is the center point of the large area that will increase in size. While developing follicles, the female attempts to relax that part of her body A LOT! Normally Boas, even if they are not tense but relaxed, will tend to appear solid and ready for action. This is not the typical posture of the female in the midst of follicular development.
Often times the female will stretch out the area where the ovaries are more of less straight with that soft more rounded appearance. Occasionally, the female will be positioned slightly tightened in a series of fairly gentle little curves, almost kinks in the vicinity again of the ovaries. They seem to frequently do this while against one wall of the cage for some reason. This I had previously described and called the “Pre-Ovulation Twist”. If fresh water is always available, which it must be if you plan on success, you will notice the water level drop dramatically on occasion. I previously referred to this as “the big drink of water”. Sometimes the female will lay on her side. Leaning sometimes or all the way on her side looking really relaxed. Sometimes to such an extend as to be almost distressing looking. At lease to me it has been. Manny Frade of “Perfect Predators” sent me a picture of one of his females leaning way over earlier this season, and it was after that, that I keyed in on that happening as well in some of my own animals.
The softness of the appearance seems to increase with time and size leaving the more muscular rigid look behind. The female that is well along into this process will often have a reduced appetite. Many of my females that I typically feed only one rat at a time, cease their impatient pacing at the door hoping for a second rat when this stage is reached. When the process is even more advanced, most females will refuse to eat entirely when food is offered for about one week before the actually ovulation. This refusal I take as a very good indication that ovulation will likely occur within a week or so.
The female that is in an advanced state of developing egg follicles, when fed a meal, will swell up considerable MORE from that meal than she will from the same sized meal fed at any other time. That swelling is more posterior than the center of where the digestive process takes place. I do not know why, but for some reason it seems like the area beyond where the rat moves after swallowing, seems to look a lot bigger very soon after feeding that meal. Perhaps the egg follicles location shifts slightly, if only temporarily, more toward the rear of the Boa when a meal is being digested. I really don’t know for sure, but this large swelling is interesting to note and a sign that there are developing egg follicles present.
When the end of this process just prior to ovulation occurs, many males will not only cease any interest in breeding the females, but actually seem to be repelled by the female. They often seek the opposite area of the cage. In the case of some of my cages that means moving to the shelf to get away from her. Some males do continue to try to breed, but that is not the norm.
The female that is right on the very edge of ovulating will usually have her tail pulled over to one side with the side of the interior looking pushed in like she is having a cramp. I do not know for sure what is happening at that time, but I wonder out loud if perhaps the female is contracting in reverse and pushing the sperm up into the oviduct. I don’t know for sure about that. But I do see that with great regularity. The area where the ovaries are look a bit tighter at that time and that tail is pulled over one direction or the other HARD. It’s quite noticeable. This may actually be the very start of ovulation as I have seen and described it previously. When the pulled sideways tail pinch is observed, ovulation seems to always occur right after this.
I have had several females this year that are not very chunky or muscular females that when stretched out I was able to actually look very closely in the area where the ovaries are located and see some stretching between the scales. This is new for me and something I have really found interesting. I am talking about a very subtle change that I would not even be able to photograph. The careful observer will be able to see this.
All of these different symptoms or subtle changes that I have been able to observe, have made it easier for me to decide when the time was right to introduce a male that I know is already ready to breed. That plus it has made it easier for me to decide if in fact I should give up on a female and move that important male on to a different female that is giving me clues that she may be in the mood or may be ready. I have had a number of ovulations this season after only about three weeks of courtship. More than I ever have had before actually. This I believe is as a result of not allowing a male, that is ready to breed, to waste a lot of effort on a female that is not so ready. It has enabled me to anticipate when an ovulation is about to occur and plan around that hopeful inevitable event. In the absence of an ultrasound, to peak under the covers and get an indication of what is happening, it is working pretty well I think.
Here is a list of little changes I look for in my females to help indicate to me what stage a female is in.
- Thinning up front due to fat usage for follicular development.
- A thickening in the back half due to follicular development.
- The “big drink of water”.
- A rounder appearance in the area of the ovaries.
- A very relaxed look in the area of the ovaries.
- The area of the ovaries resting in a more straightened out position during this development.
- Slight kinking in the area of the ovaries I previously called the “Pre-Ovulation Twist”.
- Additional “big drinks of water”.
- Larger than typical swelling after a meal has been consumed.
- Eventually a noticeable widening in the back half of the body.
- A tightening or almost curling of the area just ahead of the vent.
It NEVER gets old and I never get bored with this stuff. It’s really rewarding to nail down one more step, one more action, and it’s indicators in these processes. It’s cool to have the ability to predict what is going to happen next. Great fun for a Boa guy that never ceases to be excited by every part of the Boa keeping hobby.
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK
Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site
