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Gravid or Not--Confused!!

terrysangel79

terrysangel79

TVM Reptiles
Okay, I'm confused. I thought my Amel was going to double clutch.

She layed her first clutch on June 10th.

I weighed her for the first time on July 7th (when I got my scale), and she weighed 210grams. (I will note that I did NOT breed her, I got her that way)

I weighed her again on July 22, and she weighed 316 grams. I thought, and other people agreed that she was gravid again.

I just weighed her again tonight and she is down to 278 grams.


I am truly confused!!! She last ate on July 16th. Do they lose that much weight before they ever drop the eggs??

She just shed 4 days ago, and obviously I thought it was her pre-lay shed, so she has a nesting box in there already, just to be prepared.

Was just curious to know about the weight issue..Is she gravid, or not??


Thanks!!
 
Does she look and is she behaving as if she's gravid? After my corn laid her eggs on May 29th, there was a time when I thought she was gravid again but I think she had just put the weight back and was ovulating. Or another possiblity for your female is that she was gravid with infertile eggs and reabsorbed them. If she won't eat her normal sized mouse, that would be a clue that she's gravid. But yes, I had a similar thing with mine - just keep an eye on her behavior and it will become clear. Good luck!
 
She had refused food up until this morning...but then I have heard of gravid females eating all the way through, so I'm still confused...As I said, she shed a few days ago. Her first clutch will be 60 days next week, so we are still in range for her laying a second...She has a peaked back, and sometimes it seems as if her belly scales (okay not proper term, but you know what I mean) are rounding around her sides, as I've heard described...And sometimes I think I see the "bumps" of the eggs, but then that could just be over-active imagination on my part!!!! She doesn't want to be handled, which is unusual for her!!

Does this info help anyone have a better guess???
 
Anybody?????????

Does anybody besides Jessica have any comments, ideas??


Geez, either I post REALLY uninteresting threads, or I ask questions nobody knows the answer to, or wants to guess/comment on....... :-offtopic


terrysangel79
 
Last year I had a first year breeder who I thought was gravid with a second clutch, I could feel the eggs, and she laid on schedule. I've heard that snakes that double clutch usually always double clutch. Others that aren't predisposed to do so can be "encouraged" to double clutch but don't usually do so on their own.

SO... that brings me to this year. The girl who double clutched last year was NOT acting gravid again after her first clutch. She ate like the rest but never had the feel of eggs within her. I felt her up several times and finally concluded she would NOT double clutch as she had no size on her or anything. (I don't weigh my snakes routinely). Shortly after her first clutch hatched I was cleaning out her container and noticed a shriveled clutch of eggs under her water dish. YIKES! I did my best to save them, but lost two of the seven eggs and one is still "iffy"...

I would say treat her like she's going to lay eggs, leave her laying box with her, and don't stress about it too much.

Another of my snakes (a kingsnake this time, first year breeder) was VERY skittish after laying her clutch. I left her alone and didn't pull her second laying box (she had two, for variety) when I pulled the one with the first clutch of eggs. Because she remained VERY skittish I gave her minimal contact and then one day, 50 days after the first clutch was laid, lo-and-behold there was a second clutch in her laying box! Boy am I glad I left that box in there. Kingsnakes aren't usually prone to double clutching without reintroduction, but she seemed to want to double her production... first clutch was 7 eggs, second clutch 7 eggs and a slug!
 
weight

I am very new to breeding but I can tell you that my female lost a considerable amount of weight in the last weeks before she laid.
 
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