Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just a photo I took in May of the largest female. She showed the typical posturing of a green during ovulation. The body becomes straightened, rigid, and swollen from about mid-body back about a quarter of the body length. The actual ovulation swelling always extends for several feet, and usually lasts for two to three days. They definitely appear to be uncomfortable. All the females Jud and I have in our breeding group have shown this same pattern of posturing during ovulation. Now comes the wait.

Kelly

How long is the wait? Is it similar to red tails?

The average gestation period we have been seeing with the greens is about 170 days. This is days from ovulation to birth. The POS in greens is extremely variable from what we have seen, and no average period can be reasonably ascertained from our data. This is not all that surprising when dealing with shedding in greens with regards to reproductive processes with this species. The post-birth shedding of neonate greens does not show any consistency either. We have seen greens born while opaque and shed a few days after birth, and had others go more than two months before the first shed, and this sometimes occurs with individuals from the same litter.

Kelly

Kelly, do boas ever exhibit anything similar to the muscle contractions that pythons use to keep eggs warm in order to keep their inner temperature up while pregnant? What effect would a chill have in the wild on a pregnant boa?

I am not aware of physiologically produced body temperature increases related to gestation in boas or anacondas. Active behavioral thermoregulation would appear to be the only way for them to adjust body temperature. This would obviously include basking during daylight hours and heat conserving tight coil positioning to maintain body temps over night. I am sure the main issue is that boas are not trying to maintain temps on a non-mobile, external egg mass, so physiological heat production is not as critical with these live-bearing species. Gestating boas are moving their bodies spatially to seek out the optimum gestation temperatures within their environment.

Kelly

congrats kelly and judd!!!!

is that pairing in any relation to the female that i have from your '03 pairing????

the reson that i ask is that i am looking for a male, and was waondering if it is any relation, to mine. i want a captive breed male, i have wanted one for qiute some time.

mike

Mike,
They would only be half related to the one you have.

thanks kelly

i might end up getting a male from that clutch

mike