OK, now that I've got everyone's attention, lol...
I know a lot of people on here are anxiously awaiting their first breeding season this year. I thought this might be useful info for first-timers, not to mention giving them just one more thing to watch for.
When foaling out mares, when they got close to their delivery time, you can see the muscles over their rump relax and their spine start to stick out in preparation for birth. We always called this "jello butt" because if you tap on the muscles, they are soft and squidgy during that time.
(I've got a point here, honest.)
This same phenomenon occurs in snakes prior to laying. Their backbones start to become more prominant as the epaxial muscles relax (the muscles along the top of the spine). Since it's impossible to get a cross-sectional picture of my snakes, this little line drawing'll have to do.
The pink denotes the bottoms of the ribs. Notice in ovulation and prelaying, that the belly scutes will actually bend and a portion is visible along the side. It appears that the belly line "dropped down a row".
We are familiar with the breadloaf appearance of a normal cornsnake. The belly should be relatively flat across from rib tip to rib tip. During ovulation and while carrying eggs, the cross-section rounds up, the belly bulges out and scutes become visible at the sides.
What I've noticed happens pretty much right at their pre-lay shed to perhaps a little before is that the muscles along the spine flatten out, giving them an almost bony appearance right before laying. (Far right drawing)
I tried to get some pictures of these two gals who should be laying this week. They show what I'm talking about in person, but I found it almost impossible to capture on digifilm.
This pewter is due any day now and is showing a very pronounced spine in person. Look towards the last third of her length, you can see the reflection off the ridge.
Her swollen caudal third is more evident here with the stretching of her skin showing plenty of white between the scales. Note that she hasn't eaten in a month.
This anery gal is probably a week from laying. The spine is less evident, but definitely more prominant than a normal corn. She's starting to get "jello back". You can see it towards the vent near where her head crosses her body. Sorry, I wish I could get this to show up better. :nope:
I know a lot of people on here are anxiously awaiting their first breeding season this year. I thought this might be useful info for first-timers, not to mention giving them just one more thing to watch for.
When foaling out mares, when they got close to their delivery time, you can see the muscles over their rump relax and their spine start to stick out in preparation for birth. We always called this "jello butt" because if you tap on the muscles, they are soft and squidgy during that time.
(I've got a point here, honest.)
This same phenomenon occurs in snakes prior to laying. Their backbones start to become more prominant as the epaxial muscles relax (the muscles along the top of the spine). Since it's impossible to get a cross-sectional picture of my snakes, this little line drawing'll have to do.
The pink denotes the bottoms of the ribs. Notice in ovulation and prelaying, that the belly scutes will actually bend and a portion is visible along the side. It appears that the belly line "dropped down a row".
We are familiar with the breadloaf appearance of a normal cornsnake. The belly should be relatively flat across from rib tip to rib tip. During ovulation and while carrying eggs, the cross-section rounds up, the belly bulges out and scutes become visible at the sides.
What I've noticed happens pretty much right at their pre-lay shed to perhaps a little before is that the muscles along the spine flatten out, giving them an almost bony appearance right before laying. (Far right drawing)
I tried to get some pictures of these two gals who should be laying this week. They show what I'm talking about in person, but I found it almost impossible to capture on digifilm.
This pewter is due any day now and is showing a very pronounced spine in person. Look towards the last third of her length, you can see the reflection off the ridge.
Her swollen caudal third is more evident here with the stretching of her skin showing plenty of white between the scales. Note that she hasn't eaten in a month.
This anery gal is probably a week from laying. The spine is less evident, but definitely more prominant than a normal corn. She's starting to get "jello back". You can see it towards the vent near where her head crosses her body. Sorry, I wish I could get this to show up better. :nope:
