Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's true. Only I didn't train her. She just did it herself.

This is Samantha. This evening I took her out for an ultrasound. I put her lil snake hiney down in the nice warmish water - slowly lowering her down until she was pretty much immersed. I had all my stuff on and ready to go and figured I was in for "some" wrestling to get this done......but NO! She put her cute lil head up on the edge and stayed there the WHOLE TIME!! I was so amazed, I had to get some pics of this....cause I knew noooo one would believe it. Heck, we spent about 15 minutes with me scanning hither and yon.....and her....happy as a clam....just being sweet......and perfectly trained


Cool, huh?
Here are some images I saved as jpgs. She has not ovulated yet. All these follicles are still grouped in her mid-body and have not started into the oviducts. They are getting pretty big - about 3-4 centimeters, so something should happen pretty soon Major props to the Boa Fertility Goddesses



This was nice to see and so nice to work with such a sweet girl that I didn't even have to hold.....at all....perfectly trained. It kind of cheered me up as I sit here recuperating from gallbladder surgery and feeling kinda poorly....
Thanks for looking at my trained boa
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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".

.....both of the sweet girl and the wonders that she is creating inside. Beautiful shots of those developing eggs. I suspect that my girls wouldn't sit still for the "camera". Thanks for sharing.
gray

and that she was *really* liking it. Whatever it was - it was great because it left me with an extra hand to fiddle with the machine settings and use the computer mouse.

>>.....both of the sweet girl and the wonders that she is creating inside. Beautiful shots of those developing eggs. I suspect that my girls wouldn't sit still for the "camera". Thanks for sharing.
>>gray
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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".

she is such a good girl. Thank you for sharing such great pictures.

I think she knows mom was not up for a big wrestling match, so she just sat there... as a thank you for taking such good care of her. (whispers) I think they "know" more than anybody wants to give them credit for.

I am sorry to hear about your surgery ... but very happy you are doing better.

Take care,
Kathy

This was my first surgery experience. They take gallbladders out laparoscopicly (sp) nowadays. Instead of an incision, I have four holes in my tummy All the soreness and pain is on the inside.....but hey, I think I'm gonna live. I don't need no stinkin' gallbladder anyway and even this post surgery pain is better than a gallbladder attack!!

>>she is such a good girl. Thank you for sharing such great pictures.
>>
>>I think she knows mom was not up for a big wrestling match, so she just sat there... as a thank you for taking such good care of her. (whispers) I think they "know" more than anybody wants to give them credit for.
>>
>>I am sorry to hear about your surgery ... but very happy you are doing better.
>>
>>Take care,
>>Kathy
-----
Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

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

Linda,
...This is extremely interesting. Were you able to get some idea about how many follicles she is carrying? It will be even more interesting to see how soon you can detect fetuses in the follicles and then keep track of them as they grow. I would think that so long as she is cooperative and you do not have to wrestle with her to scan her you can scan her often without harm. Please keep us updated on this snake with more PICs of the sonograms.
Jeff

>>It's true. Only I didn't train her. She just did it herself.
>>
>>This is Samantha. This evening I took her out for an ultrasound. I put her lil snake hiney down in the nice warmish water - slowly lowering her down until she was pretty much immersed. I had all my stuff on and ready to go and figured I was in for "some" wrestling to get this done......but NO! She put her cute lil head up on the edge and stayed there the WHOLE TIME!! I was so amazed, I had to get some pics of this....cause I knew noooo one would believe it. Heck, we spent about 15 minutes with me scanning hither and yon.....and her....happy as a clam....just being sweet......and perfectly trained
>>
>>
>>Cool, huh?
>>Here are some images I saved as jpgs. She has not ovulated yet. All these follicles are still grouped in her mid-body and have not started into the oviducts. They are getting pretty big - about 3-4 centimeters, so something should happen pretty soon Major props to the Boa Fertility Goddesses
>>
>>
>>
>>This was nice to see and so nice to work with such a sweet girl that I didn't even have to hold.....at all....perfectly trained. It kind of cheered me up as I sit here recuperating from gallbladder surgery and feeling kinda poorly....
>>Thanks for looking at my trained boa
>>-----
>>Linda Hedgpeth
>>lindafh@frontiernet.net
>>Sierra Serpents
>>
>>"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".

>>Linda,
>>...This is extremely interesting. Were you able to get some idea about how many follicles she is carrying? It will be even more interesting to see how soon you can detect fetuses in the follicles and then keep track of them as they grow. I would think that so long as she is cooperative and you do not have to wrestle with her to scan her you can scan her often without harm. Please keep us updated on this snake with more PICs of the sonograms.
>>Jeff
>>
>>>>It's true. Only I didn't train her. She just did it herself.
>>>>
>>>>This is Samantha. This evening I took her out for an ultrasound. I put her lil snake hiney down in the nice warmish water - slowly lowering her down until she was pretty much immersed. I had all my stuff on and ready to go and figured I was in for "some" wrestling to get this done......but NO! She put her cute lil head up on the edge and stayed there the WHOLE TIME!! I was so amazed, I had to get some pics of this....cause I knew noooo one would believe it. Heck, we spent about 15 minutes with me scanning hither and yon.....and her....happy as a clam....just being sweet......and perfectly trained
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Cool, huh?
>>>>Here are some images I saved as jpgs. She has not ovulated yet. All these follicles are still grouped in her mid-body and have not started into the oviducts. They are getting pretty big - about 3-4 centimeters, so something should happen pretty soon Major props to the Boa Fertility Goddesses
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>This was nice to see and so nice to work with such a sweet girl that I didn't even have to hold.....at all....perfectly trained. It kind of cheered me up as I sit here recuperating from gallbladder surgery and feeling kinda poorly....
>>>>Thanks for looking at my trained boa
>>>>-----
>>>>Linda Hedgpeth
>>>>lindafh@frontiernet.net
>>>>Sierra Serpents
>>>>
>>>>"There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it".
-----
Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

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

Hi Jeff,

I find it fascinating as well. My years around horse breeding and using ultrasounds to track follicle development and time semen shipments made me really appreciate these wonderful tools. For me, they are even more exciting to use with female boas, partly because I'm learning about the machine and I'm learning about my girls, too

I haven't had an opportunity to use this ultrasound much, but each time I do, I get a little better at capturing images. The computer software I'm using right now is not reproducing the image as good as it actually looks on the ultrasound itself and I've got to try another program. The images I posted do not look nearly as nice as the machine monitor displays.....and that's a bummer.

It is possible to get an approximate count of the follicles. and perhaps some more experienced people could get an exact count, especially as they become larger. I was fortunate to watch Jeremy and Gaylynn scan a very gravid female once. When the embryos are more developed, it is easier to count them and not accidently count one, twice. Plus, when they are larger, it is easy to tell the slugs from live fetuses.

I want to scan Samantha at regular intervals and keep a visual record of her follicle/embryo development. Hopefully, she will be this cooperative each time!! How could I be so lucky

I will post the jpgs to the forum if people would like to see them. The little hash marks at the top of the images are centimeter marks, so no matter how small or zoomed out the image itself is, you can still get an accurate idea of the sizes.

>>>>Linda,
>>>>...This is extremely interesting. Were you able to get some idea about how many follicles she is carrying? It will be even more interesting to see how soon you can detect fetuses in the follicles and then keep track of them as they grow. I would think that so long as she is cooperative and you do not have to wrestle with her to scan her you can scan her often without harm. Please keep us updated on this snake with more PICs of the sonograms.
>>>>Jeff

-----
Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

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

Great shots! That is something everyone will enjoy seeing! Thanks so much. Now I need to get me a machine! That girl just sits there and lets you work....great job! Andy

Yeah, I'd like to take credit for her cooperation, but I really think I had the water temp just right......and she was just enjoying how it felt...

As for the machine - It can be very frustrating at first, but as you get the hang of it, it's tons of fun being able to see inside these critters. The water is such a good conductor, you can get an image without even touching the snake!

>>Great shots! That is something everyone will enjoy seeing! Thanks so much. Now I need to get me a machine! That girl just sits there and lets you work....great job! Andy
-----
Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

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