Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Now this is striking me as being odd.
One of my females is going into her third shed since breeding activity started.
The females is 9' 40 pounds, my second biggest girl.
She shed on Nov. 10, 2004 which I have figured to be her hermones kicking in.
She shed again on 12-27-04 which I figured to be her POS.
Now she is in shed again and will probably shed near the 10th of Feb. and this one is a bit confusing to me although it may just be a midterm shed but she does not normally shed this much in an entire year so three times in 4 months is odd.
No signs of illness and is getting bigger by the day with babies. She still has a great appetite?
Anyone one else keeping track of the shedding of their large females during breeding season? Let me know what your big girls are doing.
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Hoppy, there is exceptions to almost every rule and it sounds like she is definately, " going against the norm for gravid boas. " Typically, they will shed none at all after P.O.S. or no more than once after P.O.S. Multiple sheds happening that fast and close together like that " usually " indicates either a health problem of some kind and it could be internally and not really manifesting itself outwardly " as of yet, " or the animal is being power fed large prey items or you are going to get a very high or maybe all slug count.Experiance has shown me that; " It usually is one of the above 9 out of 10 times. " Look at her swelling; " If she is big and boxed off and tight looking, she is probably going to slug out. If she is sloppy and flopped out the sides more like a pancake, it is probably a health problem. " Agree or disagree, but there is one thing for sure, " That many sheds that close together is not normal and I would definately bank on that. " ........GOD BLESS........Johnson Herp

Hello Hoppy,
I was concerned about mine too when she never shed until a month later, she ended up with 26 slugs but 13 babies too. I think rather than a health problem as was stated or your boa slugging out, I would just consider the humidity factor and the feeding. I think feeding them is good, and helps the babies get more nutrients along the way. Giving the mom too many meals or too big a meal, may just be the case,I would guess that would cause her to shed. Also the babies growing in her would also cause her to need to shed, if there was alot and she was getting huge...is she really streached out? How much longer till she is 123 days from ovulation? If you have pics of her in the setup that may help too. Andy

Well I was thinking the same thing that the multiple sheds are from stress of some sort but not sure what. I took some pictures and will post them after work tonight. she is in a Ronne 2'x 6' cage with hot spot temp set at 92.5 and cage temp in the morning at 80 and mid day at 84. Humidity read at 75% this morning but does drop into the 60% range one the off days of her misting, Substrate is newspaper. She is fed once every two weeks while gravid, a jumbo rat at just about a pound in weight, in the summer months she is fed a 4 pound rabbit, she is seven years old and 1/2 suriname. No signs of URI and any other health issue but she is the only female that has cycled for this round of shedding. The other 6 all cycled with the first two around the same time. She is my second biggest girl but never power fed, this is her second breeding. she was not bred last year but was bred the year before.
She is due on 4-21-5 and the male was just removed this week (which may have been the cause of the stress also) so she has not fully spread out on her girth, that should/hopefully come in the last 30 days or so, but is swelling well and is on schedule up until this current shed. She has had access to two different males (salmontine and Salmon double het for ghost) and I witnessed hemi penis insertion on both males, so I am at a loss on her, although I have not bred her enough to know her particulars and I did not keep super strict records on her breeding for 2003 to know what she did last time. So I guess I will have to wait and see and keep a good eye on her for now.
Thanks
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Sometimes, in cases like yours time is the only thing that will tell. Unfortunately, multiple sheds are more times than not a indication of a problem and hopefully one that she can rectify. If she is due in April, it is still to early to tell but remember in about March to look at her swelling. If she is not loose and flopped out, I will bet you a pair of babies that she is going to have a high or all slug count and that could be the problem. When they are tall and boxed off looking in the swell, it is usually always an indication of a bad clutch. As you said; " Time will tell. " Good Luck and GOD BLESS.......Johnson Herp

Thanks for the info, I hope she works it out, but if the problem is just a bad clutch of babies, I can live with that (and have before) I will wait and see.
Thanks again for the advice
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com