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well im not really sure how to put my question into words so im going to try my best to make sence.
let me start off by saying that my female is showing signs of swelling. shes laying on her side and the lower portion of her body is puffy. she bred with my male on Dec 30th is it too soon for her to start swelling?
right now the temps are in the 80s, it usually like 84 or 85 is this not cool enough or is this too hot for her? im so nervious and i want her to be comfortable, and i want everything to go okay too.
and what can i do right now to help prevent slugs? what causes slugs? can the temperature that she is in right now cause her to lay slugs?
what is the next step that i should take? any help would be great!
here is a picture of her right now.


thank you all taking the time to look and reply
Ssam and Aaron
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2.3 normals
1.0 04 het albino
0.1 IMG
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Eleven has been and will be waiting,
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If your thinking that the swelling is eggs? That's too soon. If she suddenly swelled up, it's ovulation.
Just my opinion but I think your temps are ok. I would not go lower, to 80 as an evening drop. You run the risk of them getting a respiratory infection. Just my preference. Your getting the response that you want with the temps your running so why fix it if it's not broken?
As far as slugs, at this point it is beyond your control. Most breeders blame the male for bad eggs, slugs. Bad sperm, no sperm, etc. If you cycled him properly, he should have developed good sperm. If you cycled him properly, he developed sperm, plugs etc. and the eggs are infertile, then there is probably something wrong with his sperm and that's beyond your control. Time to get a new male.

>>As far as slugs, at this point it is beyond your control. Most breeders blame the male for bad eggs, slugs. Bad sperm, no sperm, etc. If you cycled him properly, he should have developed good sperm. If you cycled him properly, he developed sperm, plugs etc. and the eggs are infertile, then there is probably something wrong with his sperm and that's beyond your control. Time to get a new male.

Not entirely true. The fact is, some eggs just don't get fertilized. I have a male that consistently produces full clutches from every female he breeds. Last year, off all the females he bred, one had 3 slugs, 4 that died along the way and one that survived. To say he has a problem when all of the other females he bred produced good strong clutches...

Personally, I believe she cycled late (her only surviving egg hatched in Oct.) and he was removed too soon - my fault?

And as far as sperm is concerned, they produce sperm year-around and to my knowledge, it is fertile. You do not have to cycle the males to get fertile sperm. If you know to the contrary, I'd love to hear.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Can't remember where I read it but one of the many breeding sheets I've read does say that cycling promotes sperm production. Tho I doubt that it is the only thing that promote sprem production - afterall - you can pop plugs out of males at just about any time of the year - so they must be producing then too right?!?!
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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

>>Tho I doubt that it is the only thing that promote sprem production - afterall - you can pop plugs out of males at just about any time of the year - so they must be producing then too right?!?!

Exactly!
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I read years ago in Phillip Vosjolis (sp) original ball python manual, and we know how thin that one was, that the cooling period helped to insure that the males sperm was fertile. Insinuating that they were sterile at other times. Could that make sense? Not quite in those exact words, but it was the impression I got at the time.

Quig

If this is the one co-authored by the Barkers, I don't see anything in there to that effect. If someone can find it, let me know.

I know of a few breeders who do not lower their temps at all and still successfully breed. Here in central FL, we can easily be in the 90s in Dec-Jan (which we were). Cooling is very difficult and short lived. I'm not sure how much of a role it really plays, if at all. Maybe it's just a temp change that helps trigger events?
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Jay, I don't even remember. I'll poke around, may still have it here somewhere.

Quig

Can't find it Jay, so maybe I misspoke myself. If so, sorry.

Quig

>>Can't find it Jay, so maybe I misspoke myself. If so, sorry.
>>
>>Quig

No big deal. It sure would be nice if we had more studies of Ball Pythons though.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Taken from the field book that accompanies The Ball Python Breeding DVD...

Temperature Is the Most Important Cue
The single most important environmental cue for the timing of reproductive cycles is temperature. In reptiles, all metabolic functions are dependant on ambient temperatures. Sperm and egg production are temperature dependant. So, temperature cycling is necessary to establish and to maintain fertility.
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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

I have the DVD and book and remember this part. I'm going to have to research this a bit more. I think I'll contact Dr. Seward to see if he has any documentation for this statement. Like I said before, I know a few people who do not cool and get viable clutches, so...
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I have the DVD also and this is what I got from it. At the beginning of the DVD they stated that it was geared towards consistantly producing clutches. The key work would be consistantly. So if you don't feel the need to produce in optimum amounts you could probably just keep them the same all year and hope for the best.

I've raised corn snakes for years and they don't necessarily have to be cooled to breed either but if you want consistant results, it's best to cool them. To compensate for the high temps in S Florida, I run an air conditioner in my snake room with my adult corns partioned off on the wall with the a/c.

Cheryl

I'm more concerned with the blanket statement that sperm will not be fertile if the male is not cooled. I replied with:

"And as far as sperm is concerned, they produce sperm year-around and to my knowledge, it is fertile. You do not have to cycle the males to get fertile sperm."

Now, since I have not done any studies in this area, other than I live in FL, my snakes do not really get cooled and I still produce nice viable clutches...

Technically, going from 100 degrees to 95 degrees is cooling. In that respect, you could say someone is cooling (no these are not my temps). I wonder then if it's the temperature change that triggers the "events" rather than the degree of the temperature.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Could be the lighting, in which case even here in Florida the days are shorter even if it does still stay warm. If you have a window in the room there will be a change in the quality and duration of the light even with lights on in the room.

It would be interesting to see if a sperm viability study was done. If Dr Seward has that info would you please post it? They seem to focus more on the female's folicule development than on sperm viability.

Cheryl

>>Could be the lighting, in which case even here in Florida the days are shorter even if it does still stay warm. If you have a window in the room there will be a change in the quality and duration of the light even with lights on in the room.

Excellent point! I do have a window in my snake room and lighting does change even if temps do not.

>>
>>It would be interesting to see if a sperm viability study was done. If Dr Seward has that info would you please post it? They seem to focus more on the female's folicule development than on sperm viability.
>>

I sent him an email requesting supporting data of his statement concerning sperm fertility.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles