Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone had any of there females ate during there pregnency?

Both of my girl have eaten, but such a small item. They normally eat large rats, but I offered them small rats. Both of them took there food. Four days later they went right into shed. Could this mean they are NOT gravid and there food made them go into shed?
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1.2 Normal BCI
0.1 66% poss DH snow BCI
0.2 Pastel BCI
0.1 Pastel Het Albino BCI
1.0 Anery BCI
1.0 Striped Albino BCI
0.1 Salmon 66% poss DH snow BCI
1.0 Reduced Pattern Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
0.1 Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
1.0 Poss. Super Salmon BCI
0.1 DH striped Albino BCI

3.3 Ball Pythons

n/p
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1.2 Normal BCI
0.1 66% poss DH snow BCI
0.2 Pastel BCI
0.1 Pastel Het Albino BCI
1.0 Anery BCI
1.0 Striped Albino BCI
0.1 Salmon 66% poss DH snow BCI
1.0 Reduced Pattern Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
0.1 Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
1.0 Poss. Super Salmon BCI
0.1 DH striped Albino BCI

3.3 Ball Pythons

No - a female will naturally stop eating once her follicles reach a certain size. My female last year stopped eating large rats and would only take small rats after I started breeding her and then stopped eating all together a month before ovulation. Not sure if there is any average time or not. Some females don't eat at all during the breeding season whether they are breeding or not. When you see ovulation you'll know that she is gravid - unless she is having a false pregnancy - lol. Course I'm sure there will be someone who will say that thier snake ate while gravid.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

a one clutch sample isn't much to draw conclusions on.

I didn't respond, because I stop feeding all breeding females mid Dec.(months into breeding, many still feeding regularly), so I really have no idea how long they will continue to eat.

TomChambers

I actually didn't draw my conclusion on my one clutch but what Dr. Seward and the Sutherlands said in the Ball Python Breeding video - I was just watching it again the other day to double check on this same topic.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

// start rant //
There are no absolutes in nature. I'm sure many female Ball pythons have eaten while gravid (besides the ones I've witnessed). Saying that they do not is akin to saying that since I've never seen parthenogenesis occur, it must never happen. For anyone here to claim it as an absolute because they haven't seen it or because it is mentioned in a video as a generality is an error in judgement. I am not attempting to discredit Seward or anyone else, so please don't interpret my statement that way.

Let's not regurgitate what we read, hear and see or our opinions as fact. To state an opinion or observations based on your own experiences is fine. We all know that you can read two different snake books and get conflicting information, which leads to confusion among readers. You can't assume that just because someone got published they are an expert. In fact, no one reviews or fact checks most books. I could likely write a book wrought with errors and get it published. Think of the damage that can cause....

// end rant //

Happy New Year!
-Jason

Tho most of the breeding sheets, books and videos from the big breeders indicate that a female will not eat after becoming gravid - I will take it as it most likely won't happen but can.

I stand corrected.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

first question....will she eat if gravid.......yes and no...gravid with little follicles yes and maybe stop when she ovulates.......usually they stop when they want......I have alot of females that have stopped and they are only at 1100 grams or so......their loss.I will still eat dinner everyday.......(it shows).........

.....anyways.........

reality.......

IT"S too early to actually be ready to lay (usually).......most will breed all winter then ovulate in Feb and March and lay in April and May and even into June...even though they started breeding in November....

here's the deal....FEED WHEN THEY WANT TO EAT......if it eats......good......if they stop......nothing we can do.......

and breed till they lay.....

if it eats and breeds...sooner or later it will lay a bunch of eggs......

and if it ate in the morning and breeds in the afternoon then lays that night......I think she is enjoying life a little more than most balls.......

balls suck....(.usually they eat what they want when they want........and you can't make them eat frozen thawed rats if they don't want them unless you starve them for a year..or more....)off topic now./......

bye..

feed it and wait.......
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................................................
..................gottaLuvIt!!

>>gravid with little follicles yes and maybe stop when she ovulates>>

They aren't gravid until they ovulate!

but other than that - yea!

One thing you can count on when it come to balls is that you can't base ANYTHING on thier eating.....
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

10.35.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.1 Lizard rescued from feline
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

>>Let's not regurgitate what we read, hear and see or our opinions as fact. To state an opinion or observations based on your own experiences is fine. We all know that you can read two different snake books and get conflicting information, which leads to confusion among readers. You can't assume that just because someone got published they are an expert. In fact, no one reviews or fact checks most books. I could likely write a book wrought with errors and get it published. Think of the damage that can cause....
>>

I agree to an extent. Real research can be taken as fact (as long as everything was done correctly). No one discredits every proven fact to perform their own study to see if the fact is true or not. Once a theory is proven and accepted as fact, it is built on by others following similarly accepted methods. If you assumed everyone was wrong, you would never get out of the house in the morning.

Now, from my personal observation, some of my females eat during the entire breeding season - one of which had already ovulated. She took a small rat. But most of mine do not feed during the breeding season.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I'm not sure about balls, but my female burm ate why she was gravid, infact she ate a week or two before laying, but like I said That was with a burm not a ball.
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Please...
Keep an OPEN MIND, You'll be AMAZED...

Yes, many will quit feeding but some snakes will eat at any time no matter what. The real question is whether or not it's good for them to be eating while their bodies fill up with eggs. Personally I see no harm in offering small meals as long as they're not gorging themselves.

Mark

"Course I'm sure there will be someone who will say that thier snake ate while gravid."

Ahem!!... lol My Olive python is quite gravid...visable and xray confirmed. Went off feed for over a month, but just took a small rabbit. So it does happen to certain animals, but mostly they don't eat when "with egg", true. The only reason I fed her was that she came out of the nesting box, tongue flicking, after not moving out of there for a month. So...I figured she knew what she wanted.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
1.1 Woma (Juvie female)
2.1 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.0 Angolan Juvie
1.1 Savu
1.1 Juvie Bloods
1.1 Juvie Balls
1.1 IJ Carpets
1.1 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.1 Papuan Olives
1.0 Jungle Carpet
2.2 Scrubs (on breeding loan)
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

Matter in fact, the one male I have has been breeding back and forth with these two girls. Once I see him done with his female, I place him with a new female. I switch him back and forth with each female and he's been at it. Seriously, with in 10 minutes, he's right on top of the female and they are tail to tail. I leave him be for about a week. If I see no more breeding, I place him in with another female. The thing is, when he's back in with the origanel female, he goes back to courting and copulating. I'm guessing he's making sure the 'job' is done? When he does this, he's done in about 24 hours.
-----
1.2 Normal BCI
0.1 66% poss DH snow BCI
0.2 Pastel BCI
0.1 Pastel Het Albino BCI
1.0 Anery BCI
1.0 Striped Albino BCI
0.1 Salmon 66% poss DH snow BCI
1.0 Reduced Pattern Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
0.1 Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
1.0 Poss. Super Salmon BCI
0.1 DH striped Albino BCI

3.3 Ball Pythons

-----
1.2 Normal BCI
0.1 66% poss DH snow BCI
0.2 Pastel BCI
0.1 Pastel Het Albino BCI
1.0 Anery BCI
1.0 Striped Albino BCI
0.1 Salmon 66% poss DH snow BCI
1.0 Reduced Pattern Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
0.1 Hog Island Boa BCI ssp.
1.0 Poss. Super Salmon BCI
0.1 DH striped Albino BCI

3.3 Ball Pythons

It's not wholey uncommon for females to eat during the breeding season, and no, It doesn't mean they aren't gravid. It's good you offered smaller food items too. This way they can utilize the nutrition while not taking up to much space internally for future eggs to form when they do become gravid.

Quig