Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As many of you know, there are several Leopard projects in the works. We are 1 of a handful working the Leopard boa to the "Kahl" strain albino. Well, I wish I could say that everything was peachy, and that we owe all of our success to the boa gods....lol. Never that easy.

In the pictures below you see actuall copulation and swelling (in the really dirty picture).

We have witnessed everything from courting, copulation, pre-ov twist and ovulation. Text book if there is such a thing. The next obvious step is to countdown to the Pre-ov shed, ideally should be 3 weeks from ovulation.

Now comes the tricky part......the albino up till this point has been perfect, she starts the shed process, her color changes, and her skin dulls.......but........she never completes the cycle. We are currently 1 week past her shed date (when it should have been due). Her eyes never really milked up, but her skin feels dry and like she is in the middle of a shed.

My opinion is that something is very wrong, maybe re-obsorbing??? Bill k, Jeremy, Mike, anyone have an opinion on this? Ever had it happen before?

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Chris & Alliey
Giantkeeper Reptiles
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Great pics, good luck with the outcome, hopefully all goes good.

So many threads recently with a similar theme; snakes don't always read the book.
If you have seen an unquestionable ovulation then you should get something down the line. I have misjudged ovulations before but once I have seen a true ovulation there have always been sluggs or babies.
Regarding the POS I have had several snakes in the past few years do no shed at all. I have discussed this with other breeders and they have had similar results. If you go back to Ronne's paper he referred to the 105 days but also mentioned the 120 days from a definite ovulation to birth. I have found this number to be fairly accurate in my animals.The other new pattern I have seen is that my females shed at about 80 days.
Every room is different. I keep my gravid femles with a constant available hot spot of about 92 and they always deliver before 105 days. I had one litter last year at 94 days and all of the babies did well.
I also can't think of a single time when I have seen a definite copulation like your picture without getting sluggs or babies.
Best of luck to you. I think this is a good project which I will probably be getting into later this year.
Bill Kirby
KRBS HERPS

Thanks for the reply. I feel pretty confident about the ovulation. It was pretty much confirmed by the male stopping his breeding, and her starting the shed cycle. I am just a little freaked that she stopped in the middle of the shed cycle and has not progressed. Just hoping that this was not a sure sign of a troubled pregnancy.
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Chris & Alliey
Giantkeeper Reptiles
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Please let us know how this turns out? I have seen this weird shedding/not shedding thing with 2-3 of mine since starting up my collection again in 2000. Not with gravid females, but with youngsters. I kept them a little extra humid, and they have always gone ahead and shed correctly the next cycle..leaving me puzzled. I bet she'll just stay sort of "crinkly" and then go into another shed cycle before long.

An unusual thing some of my girls are doing right now is: They are having faster shed cycles this winter and early spring....and these are 3-5 year old girls. Their feeding schedule and prey item has remained the same - they are just shedding more often these last four months. I have an 01 Ghost female that has had me scratching my noggin. It seems like she sheds, and then before I know it, she is starting into another shed cycle. She appears to be the picture of health and I'm not worried about her...just puzzled. Maybe it's the weather systems here? We did have an unusually cold, snowy, wet winter....(so much so, that the local farmers and ranchers are saying another winter like this and we'll be out of our drought). That's the only thing I can think of that has been different in their lives.

Anyway, let us know what happens with her. These things are great learning tools for folks like me. Very best wishes on those babies! I'm hoping my Leopard male will find "romance" someday soon
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".

I will keep you up to date. How is Butterfly's sister doing? It looks like she is going to give you a heck of a litter!! Maybe you should take Butterfly for the next season
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Chris & Alliey
Giantkeeper Reptiles
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Is your female named Butterfly, and she is Jessica's sister? I would take her in a heartbeat.....but then.....I probably wouldn't give her back Email me some pics of her sometime. I love pics of the relatives!

>>I will keep you up to date. How is Butterfly's sister doing? It looks like she is going to give you a heck of a litter!! Maybe you should take Butterfly for the next season
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>>Chris & Alliey
>>Giantkeeper Reptiles
>>E-mail Us

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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".

I had to dbl check your website to make sure, but yes...our "Butterfly" is Jessi's sister.
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Chris & Alliey
Giantkeeper Reptiles
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I sent you an email about her

>>I had to dbl check your website to make sure, but yes...our "Butterfly" is Jessi's sister.
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>>Chris & Alliey
>>Giantkeeper Reptiles
>>E-mail Us
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".