Don't have a tremendous amount of personal experience with palpating and I know you are looking an old pro to jump in, but here is something recent to share if it may help at all...
One of my alterna females just recently laid her second clutch without a second breeding, her first clutch being infertile. She fed heavily after this first clutch, put on good weight quickly and when palpated appeared gravid again, however I was certain that most if not all eggs were infertile again with possibly a couple of exceptions. Two of them definitely felt larger and more solid with the remaining eggs being barely noticeable and hard to feel. Palpating a female as I am learning is not an easy thing to figure out but as I practice on females that have never been bred and compare to those that have, I am developing the feel for it. Don't really know how to describe what it is I am feeling other than the lumps feel larger and more filled out than they usually do. I think it is just a matter of practice makes perfect and eventually our fingers learn what it is they are feeling around for.
I have been keeping a large damp moss tub in with my females all summer long. They like to use it on occasion regardless and when in doubt, if they surprise me they have their place to lay their clutch.
This alterna female laid a second clutch of 8 eggs total, 2 very nice fertile eggs this time and not having had a male re-introduced at all. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would'nt get any babies from her this year. In fact, I didn't want her to produce a second clutch if I could avoid it as I felt she was way too thin. But here I go... looks like 2 babies are well on the way and those 2 eggs are looking great.
This supports what John just touched upon and what a wise old timer once told him... these animals are in control and we just take care of them the best we can, do all the dirty work and manage what happens. Actually the saying was... "the snakes are in the drivers seat and we are just along for the ride"... and how true it appears to be. Hearing that, along with the basic knowledge of trying to understand how these animals work as presented to us over in the general forum by Frank Retes and his wisdom, has certainly helped me to relax and get a good feeling for how to better manage my husbandry. It starts to get fairly easy after a while, but never a bit boring!
Mike
