Babies??????

[Bernie]

Well here is a little story about my 04 normal female. The end has yet to arrive and when it does Ihope that it will involve some baby boas. I aquired her along with two others from one of our fellow herpers here on the forum back on October 14, 2006. She is a little under 6' long and weighs probably 8 lbs. On Oct 18 she started showing signs of shedding which lasted 17 days and shed on Nov 3. I paid no attention to this and about a month later shed again on Dec 2 which was a 12 day shed for her. She has yet to show signs of another shed and a cuople of weeks ago when I took her out she looked like she is getting fat. I know that the gain in her girth is not from excess fedding because she has been on a light feeding schedule. I was doing some research and I am wondering now if that first shed could have been a post ovulation shed. I found that Jeff has written that a small percentage of his females will shed about halfway through the gestation period and was wondering if that could explain her second shed. She spends most of her time on the warm side of the cage but not always coiled up. Below I attached a picture of her next to the male that I acquired with her. The head is the male and her body shot is in between the male and his body. She was a touch smaller than him when I got her and they hve been on the exact feeding schedule since I got them. I am hoping that she isgravid. Any opinions from a more experienced breeder would be appreciated.

THANKS,
Bernie

[Bernie]

Here shae is again. Still getting fatter and spending her time like this on the hot side of the cage. I am guessing that if she does have some babies in there then they will be due in about 4 weeks.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o201/Edbrunson/000_0106.jpg

[Jason Dowell]

I'm not experienced when it comes to babies, but it definately looks like something is going on there. Is the male still with her?
One thing I am sure of though, at 8 lbs. don't expect there to be many kids.
I have an 04 female that has been fed regularly, and she is 4 feet and about 2 lbs.!
Here she is:
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/83802bo6out2.jpg

[Bernie]

She hasn't changed much. Still looking big and staying coiled on the warm side of the cage. She hasn't eaten for two weeks and she still looks big. Her due date I figure is around Feb 16. I work most the night so I have been bummed that I probably would miss her having babies. But I have to go in for knee surgery on the 12 so I will be asble to be right by her side all week long to keep a good eye on her. Let me know what you think.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o201/Edbrunson/100_2751.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o201/Edbrunson/100_2753.jpg

[Bernie]

Well it has now been 110 days and no babies so I am guessing that I won't have any this year. I am still wondering why though is she still so big and hasn't eaten now for over a month. She started cruising around in her cage a few days ago and then stopped and laid all stretched out he next day so I thought she had picked a spot. But that wasn't the case the next morning when I woke to find her coiled up on the warm side of the cage. She also hasn't shown any signs of shedding for over two months. Here are a couple of pics I took today.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o201/Edbrunson/100_2855.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o201/Edbrunson/100_2856.jpg

[Randy_T.]

I'd just keep an eye on her. She looks like she could be carrying something for ya. If nothing pops out but she stays big for too much longer you might want to have a vet check her out to see if she is retaining slugs.

[Bernie]

I was going to give it one more day and then call the vet.

[Bernie]

Well no babies and the vet said that she is probably just constipated. So she is being soaked everyday and watched very carefully. She was operated on a year ago for a kinked intestine and the vet sai dthat there is a slight possibility of a reoccurence. The vet had no explanation for not having a shed cycle but she just started one a couple of days ago. I also threw her a small rat to see if she would eat and and she took it fast. So hopefully she will have a bowel movement here and things can go back to normal.