Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had this pair since February of this year. I have kept them together for the whole time in a rather large cage and I have always found them sitting in a mass coil together until recently. This last few weeks the female has been acting funny, so I observed them closer and wrote down some notes on what I have seen in the last three/four weeks from this pair.

Week 1:
Monday-Thursday: Temps are lowered naturally due to cold front - Pair buries themselves under the bedding, note - I have never seen them do this together before or stay nearly a long.
Friday: Temps are still around 65-70F in the room during the day. The pair show themselves and no longer are under the bedding. Note - Female is extremely aggressive, never has she been this aggressive.
Saturday: Feeding day, both accept their meals. Female begins to bite male and become rough with him, whipping her body at him.

Week 2:
Sunday-Wednesday:Same behavior ensues so I decide to separate the pair for the first time besides feeding. No bodily damage was done to the male.
Thursday-Saturday: Temps come back up to the high 70's. Female begins building a mass of bedding in the middle of the housing area??? Again not the normal for her.

Week 3 (This past week):
Monday-Friday: Female keeps on building the mass of bedding even though I tear it down (to see what would happen). Male is acting normal, no harm from the female was done. I notice the females bottom half seems thicker than usual and has almost gained girth size by a 1/4th in two weeks.
Saturday: Feed day, female shows no interest in her normal sized meal (1 jumbo mouse) I like to give her, I offer a smaller prey item (1 hopper). Males eats like normal. Temps are still in the high 70's and reaching the lower 80's.

This week:
Sunday: Female is now extremely aggressive tto me which is extremely unusual. She starts to show signs of going into the 'blue' cycle. Female has a considerable thickness now beginning to stretch down to her cloaca.
Monday-Tuesday: Female is now becoming a bit thicker, has empty stomach.

Here is a shot of the swelling I am talking about.

Any idea what is going on? Breeding? Gravid? It seems to point that way to me....
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David Hiscock.

I did not have time to read your post closely but wanted to give a quick reply. I have produced several clutches of fertile Gonyosoma eggs although have had many unfortunate events that prevented any of the eggs from hatching. Most notably a basement flood, but I digress.

Female Gonyosoma have always been very obviously gravid to my eye. I have never been surprised by a clutch of eggs. From my quick read of your post I suspect yours is gravid.

I will also note that they can take a very long time from shedding to ovoposition. I lost my notes in that basement flood but I think it once took at least seven weeks.

It's also every obvious when they lay their eggs. I found my first Gony clutch when I saw a very skinny female perched in her cage one day. The previous day she was looking quite plump despite not eating consistently for many weeks.

If you do get fertile eggs please, please incubate them on the cool side. I got this advice from some Europeans and have passed it on to several Gony keepers. All have had much better sucess with hatching since cooling their incubators down to 78* or so.

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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Thanks Chris! I really hope she is, being these snakes are usually on the tinner side girth wise I believe her to be. I really appreciate the info.

David Hiscock
http://www.flherper.com
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David Hiscock.

David,

I sent an e-mail to your adelphia account. Let me know here if you don't get it.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Reply sent
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David Hiscock.