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How do I palpate my cal kings to feel ovum developement. What exactly am I looking for? And at what stage of the breeding cycle?

This is a gophersnake with quail eggs inside. But you can picture this being ovum. The ovum is much smaller but very much like this.

You let the female crawl thru your fingers, as if she was crawling thru a crack. Do not squeeze, keep your fingers solid.

It will feel like a string of pearls.

This occurs just after the female becomes receptive. So once you feel this string of pearls, you only have a short time to have the female bred.

This gophersnake event was very interesting. Can anyone explain how this progressed? Cheers FR

>> This gophersnake event was very interesting. Can anyone explain how this progressed? Cheers FR
>>

Well, I'll have to use my imagination a little, but I'll give it a shot. This photo comes from s. AZ last spring...

As you can see there's a concrete block with a snake next to it. It could have been a kingsnake or gopher snake also, as they have been under concrete in this location also. The next photo shows a clutch of quail eggs...

The quail eggs were under one of the concrete blocks. I imagine many quail eggs are gobbled up by predatorial snakes and lizards. I guess your gopher found a nest and just helped himself. Did some kind of commotion draw him to it?

TC

hahahahahahahahaha Naw, it was crossing the road late summer. Not what I was leading too.

Of some kind of interest, at least to me was, It digested the eggs one at a time. Each egg took the same amount of time to dissolve. The eggs entered the stomach one at a time, the shells became soft, then passed down the track. Then the next egg entered the stomach. Etc etc.

Normally our low elevation quail do not lay until after spring. Late april to july and even later is normal, with may and june being the most common.

Cheers FR

That's an interesting observation, Frank. All kinds of ratsnakes eat hard-shelled eggs, shells and all. To me, a Pituophis is just another kind of ratsnake though. I wonder if kingsnakes eat the shell and all. Interesting how the eggs entered the stomach one at a time. Thanks...TC

BTW, the quail nest I found was in late March.

I think the gopher snake crushed the eggs by crawling through a crack or simply crushing them by flattening her body, then regurged the shells.
Todd Hughes

I quoted observation, not spectulation. She did what I described. I watched her(observed this). Thats why I called it interesting. Cheers FR

Nice looking gopher snake Todd. Locality?

Phil

Hey Phil, yeah, one of two big 5' males from Brewster co., Texas caught on Oct. 1-2 this year with an abberant hatchling female. Same place as the b/w splendida. Calm as cucumbers and fed well.
Todd Hughes