A perfect picture that shows this female in the classic "Pre-Ovulation Twist" position. She is lightly kinked going all the way down to her tail tip. This is a neat shot I was able to get from over head. The only way this could have been better would be if she would have had the front part of her body right along the front edge as well so you could see how thick she has gotten herself compared to how thin she is up front now.
This is a really unique situation. Here I will tell the tale.
I fed all the big stuff in the big room on March 12th. I gave this relatively small 5 1/2', I think 7 or 8 year old female, a single rat like she usually gets on feeding days. Later as I was wrapping up the feeding day, I realized I had about 20 "extra" rats as my eyes were bigger than my stomach so to speak. LOL Well in the process of looking around, I decided I'd give this girl a second rat. She is a savage feeder, but I have not fed her a ton as her relatively small size attests. She backed away from the second rat. Strange right? Right. So I laid the rat in the cage feeling pretty confident she would eat it later for a midnight snack perhaps. Well, the next morning I find that rat is still there. So out into the trash goes that wasted rat. I have not been trying to breed this particular female at all.
I am being selective with what I breed this season especially, trying to make stuff that is not common in the marketplace or that I personally need in my Boa arsenal. She is a Scarlet Hypo from way back. One that I kept for myself. She gave me a litter of slugs last year and had not put all her weight on quite yet so she was not one I was trying this season. So on Monday March 14th, two days after the meal, I look in at her and she is ginormous! Humungous! Titanic huge! I know exactly what to do. Some of you will remember a few weeks back I posted a thread titled, "Additional Pre-Ovulation Details" within that write up I detailed how I have found that sometimes females, running up the point of ovulation, when fed a meal, will swell up MUCH larger than normal. This female, even though I hadn’t even shown her a male was doing exactly what I had described. IN addition, she had refused a rat that she normally would have taken with gusto! Two excellent indicators that I paid close attention to. So I quickly set about trying to find a male that was still willing to do the deed for me at this late point in the Boa breeding season. Into the cage he went and onto this little girl he climbed. He has been there ever since.
She has actually “looked” a little bit like she was ovulating a couple times that I have checked since. However, that appearance is simply the lead up to the ovulation that is still waiting in the wings. I am really excited to have seen this with this female. Who am I to tell her she hasn’t regained enough weight to make a few babies for me. Right?
So today she is doing the classic "Pre-Ovulation Twist"! A beautiful site and even nicer that she is doing what I just wrote about. I actually cannot remember ever having a female swell up like that when I had not even introduced a male with her before. I have seen many females that look thick like they have developing egg follicles and they are ready, but never had one blow up like this from a meal with some male prep to get her to that point.
How can a guy NOT be excited about this stuff!?!? It never gets old. Never.
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK
Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site
