• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

I Think I'm Nesting!

Pal-O-Mine

Pal-O-Mine

New member
I bred Draco my amel corn female to Hiccup my hypo motely male a couple weeks ago and already I'm behaving like a nesting grandma! I saw the incubator thread and went out to tractor supply and got the incubator they had on sale. Went to the garden store the other day for gardening supplies and came home with spagnum moss and nothing else!

But I have a few questions from those of you who, unlike me, have bred their snakes more than once. Does the newly gravid female change in shape much within the first 2 weeks after breeding? Draco went into brumation with an empty belly but she was FAT! She came outta brumation still FAT looking. Now she's starting to look...well...different. She's looking kinda triangular in shape but I still can't feel eggs. ( I really think its too early to palpate them but what do I know? ) So either she's skinny or cooking something. I tried to feed her the other day and she wasn't interested. This is a snake that NEVER refuses a meal.

And would it be dangerous to ex-ray her when she gets really gravid to count eggs???? ( I just like playing with the digital ex-ray we have at work! )

Devon
 
Females can get fat before the eggs get fertilized... they can ovulate and start getting 'gravid'... then fertilize the eggs.

I have a female that got looking really gravid before she was mated.... then about a month after that I could feel the eggs in her.

I have no idea about radiation in snakes.... I don't think one x-ray would do much harm, but what do I know?

The gravid look shows in the area by the vent... and it is more of a rounding of the ventral scales.
 
I'm rubbish at palpating eggs, even though I've tried Kathy Love's suggestion of letting the snake run over and through my hands with a silk scarf, which is supposed to help you feel the eggs. The triangle shape is usually a dead giveaway that they are gravid though
 
As far as looking gravid, this is the best picture I have. She is obviously in a lay box and about to lay, but you should be able to see the "triangle" look she has.



and I hear you about nesting... I am actually on day 59 with her eggs and catch myself checking every hour to see if they have started pipping.... I wouldn't think an X-ray would hurt but you probably won't be able to tell how many will be good eggs over how many might be slugs. Plus it is always a neat surprise to find out how many each lays....
 
Buzzard said:
As far as looking gravid, this is the best picture I have. She is obviously in a lay box and about to lay, but you should be able to see the "triangle" look she has.



and I hear you about nesting... I am actually on day 59 with her eggs and catch myself checking every hour to see if they have started pipping.... I wouldn't think an X-ray would hurt but you probably won't be able to tell how many will be good eggs over how many might be slugs. Plus it is always a neat surprise to find out how many each lays....
Click to expand...


I love that pic Buzzard, thanks for posting it. Little cobracorn.
 
Okay, its only been 4 weeks since I bred Draco and she's starting to act...odd. She's all over her tank any time of the day and night, dumping her water and such. ( Do gravid snakes get really restless before they lay? ) I was cleaning it out this morning and decided to see what she would do if I gave her a nesting box. Well, she's REALLY interested in it! She's been in and out of it several times already burrowing around and 'sniffing' it. Is this pre-lay behavior???


Devon
 
When was her last shed? I would also remove her big water bowl and give her a small one, so she doesn't lay eggs in it.
 
She shed right before Easter. I bred her Easter weekend.

Oh. BTW she laid 2 eggs for me on Sat.! One looks good,( definitely NOT a slug! ) the other may not make it. But they're in the incubator anyway.

Somehow I was expecting corn snake eggs to be...well...bigger. And more off them. How long does it take for them to lay a whole clutch???? She's still in and out of the nesting box.


Devon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top