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I am new to trying to breed my female. I had a male with her several weeks ago. In the last couple of days she has been spending most of the day soaking in her water tub. She has never done this before in the three years I have had her. Could this be a sign of her being gravid?

Hey,
I have also noticed this with my female het ghost this year. Im not sure if this is a sign of a female being gravid but mabey? How large is she? This is a very interesting topic.
Nick

She is about 4'3" long. She looks to have gotten heavier but I don't know if that is me just hoping. She has never sat in her tub but the last three days she spends at least 6 hours strait in there.

Try weighing her once a week and see if you notice an increase in weight. Has she gone of feed? Did you ever notice an ovulation? We should see if we can figure out whether soaking in a water bowl is acually a real sign, because I know many people how reduce the size of there ball pythons water dishes during the breeding season.

They reduce the size of the bowl so that she won't get inside to lay her eggs.

I haven't weighed her before. I will do that today and keep checking this out. I did notice an ovulation either. She seemed to eat fine last week. I plan on feeding her tomorrow so I should have an answer about that. I see the posts about reducing the size of the water dish and will do that just in case she does try to lay her eggs ( if she is gravid) in the water dish. Thanks for the input so far.

Oops...I did not see an ovulation is what I meant to say.

...Soaking in the bowl is not indicative of the female being gravid. Soaking will occur for basically 3 reasons:
1) the female is trying to cool down (evaporative cooling)
2) the snake has mites
3) the snake just feels like soaking, lol!

In analysis,
1) An animal will resort to soaking to cool down primarily if it can't gain access to cooler air temps...
2) snakes instictively know that soaking will reduce external parasites...
3) Even desert species will soak from time-to-time if given the opportunity.

Some females will seek cooler temps prior to ovulation, but after ovulation, females will seek warmer temps (high 80's-low 90's). If the female is kept too warm AFTER ovulation, she may soak in an ATTEMPT at evaporative cooling. If a gravid female has access to temps between low 80's and low-mid 90's then soaking is usually secondary to relocation to a spot in the cage where temps suit the female's needs. I'd double-check your temps to make sure your conditions are correct.

One final point: Females do NOT gain weight during the pre-ovulation state or pregnancy UNLESS they are feeding. What may APPEAR to be weight gain is a redistribution of fat/protein from storage depots to the ova during pre-ovulation. Once ovulation occurs there is no more redistribution. Period. There WILL be exchange of respiratory gas (O2,CO2) only.

Good luck!
Scott J. Michaels DVM

I have noticed soaking behavior in pre-ovulation females, and I tested the possibility that females were trying to get cooler by reducing the ambient temperature in the enclosure a few degrees (just lowered the thermostat a bit). Soaking behavior soon ceased. Now that two of the females have ovulated, they are now maintaining body temperature in high 80's.

Thanks for the info. I will keep my fingers crossed. Serpencity, also thanks to you for your input.

Orca 37