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15 days post Pre-lay shed and nothing?

Susielea

Susielea

Lily
Ok well as the title says, my RO girl is now at 15 days past her pre-lay shed and is just happily sitting in her lay box. Last year she laid 14 days after the pre-lay and the year before she laid 10 days after. She looks completely fine, no eggs close to the cloaca, no straining and still alert when I check on her. I've been checking her every 12 to 18 hours.

Now, she ate two large fuzzies after her pre-lay shed, exactly the same as last year and the year before, this girl never refuses a meal :) Last year at 12 days after pre-lay shed she ate another two large fuzzies and went on to lay 2 days later. Now, this year I haven't offered her that second feed after pre-lay shed, as I recently read that this is not recommended :shrugs:

So what I guess I'm asking is, should I give this girl a couple of fuzzies like I did last year and the year before, or should I hold off until she decides to drop these eggs for me? (I haven't worried with the other two, as they have refused feeding from before shed)

When should I be concerned about the length of time she's taking to lay her eggs? How long can it take after pre-lay? I know this sounds daft, but i've never had one go more than 14 days past pre-lay, so has enyone else?

All help and suggestions gratefully received :)
 
I've had animals go longer than the magic 14 days. I've also had animals lay eggs before their "prelay" shed. I just try to roll with it. If you don't see signs of distress I think all is good for now. I also offer food when I'm normally feeding. My thought is they know their own bodies better than I ever will. If she wants it she'll eat, if not, that's okay too. Keep in mind none of todays practices are set in stone. It's like years ago, eggs were terrible for you to eat. Now they are a great source of protein, blah, blah, blah. Go with what works for each individual animal. Just keep an eye on her. Is there anyway you can check on her without opening her brooding box? It may sound silly given it hasn't bothered her in previous years, but maybe she is like the proverbial watched pot. Keep us informed as to her progress and good luck!
Terri
 
Thank you, I decided to go for it and give her the fuzzies, which she accepted eagerly :) I did pop her into her feeding tub to feed her, but that's the only disturbance she's had for over a week.

I've got pieces of cork bark on top and round the sides of the lay box, which I lift without touching the box, and just peek in the side and see her, so I'm not disturbing the box or opening it. I was checking her 2 or 3 times a day, but dropped that out to once every 18 hours in case it was annoying her in any way :) I also haven't put the vacuum on, in case it disturbs her...lol

I guess this is where my patience gets tested to the limit :grin01:

Thanks for the reply :)
 
diamondlil said:
Hope there's an eggy update soon!
Click to expand...

So do I!!!

She looked absolutely fine last night when I fed her, but I haven't checked on her yet today, I'll leave it till this evening before doing so, that will be about 24 hours :)

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's just tormenting me, as I know they like to do this every so often ;)

Thanks for the replies!
 
I thought I'd update.

We are now at 18 days post pre-lay shed and Angel's been out for a drink twice in the last two days, that I've seen, she has also passed a small toilet on both occasions.

She has been in her warm hide, not the nest box, since yesterday and when I checked her this morning, she looks like she's going into blue :shrugs:

Could the last shed have been a regular shed and this one be the pre-lay?

I have no idea what this girl is up to, she has always played by the rules until this year, she even accepted the male after her first shed of the year this year, instead of after her second shed, like in previous years.

She seemed absolutely fine this morning (no eggs near the cloaca, but getting bigger and fatter) and I'm just wondering if I should be checking her more frequently than 24 hours, or is that about right? :shrugs:

I'm playing by the, "patience is a great virtue", motto at the moment, so wish me luck :)
 
Tula_Montage said:
Oh Sue... this is exactly what Lacey did to me. Isn't it just torture! Nothing to do but wait I'm afraid :(
Click to expand...

Thanks Elle, I'm waiting, I'm waiting :)

To be honest I don't give a hoot if Angel slugs out for me, just so long as she is ok. The guy at my rep shop, who I've been on the phone to and went to visit Saturday, said he has had females that have had two sheds before laying, he's been breeding them for years, so I'm hoping she's trying the same trick, just to scare me :)


I'm still waiting ;)
 
Fingers crossed for you Susie. I'd say a once a day check would be about right. Big hugs to you and hope Angel's just teasing you!
 
Sue I know how you feel. I have a female that is doing the same thing to me. It is 17 days post lay shed and nothing. Some times I start to wonder if she is even gravid or if she reabsorbed the eggs. She is driving me insane! Good luck with you girl and I hope she lays soon.
:)
 
Another Update!

We are now at 24 days past what I thought was Angel's pre-lay shed and we have what I think is progress :)

On Friday I had a friend (who has been breeding for many years) take a look at Angel because I was still worried. He thinks she is looking good and that this could be her pre-lay shed, she went blue on the 5th :shrugs: He went through all her dates and gave her a thorough check over, the eggs were still soft and pliable and not too close to the cloaca, so he advised me to leave her alone but check on her once a day and keep him informed.

Angel went clear yesterday after being in blue and this morning she was out cruising her tank. She had a long drink of water and passed a small toilet.

Because she was out, I took the opportunity to check that her nest box was still moist enough and when I lifted it I found a slug behind it, which was recently laid as it was still moist. I re-moistened the vermiculite quickly and put the box back in.
Angel continued to cruise her tank for a while, before heading for her nest box and as she crawled over the cork bark slab that covers the box, she dropped another egg on the substrate :eek: This one looks partially fertile, three quarters white, one quarter yellowish, so I've retrieved it and popped it in the incubator :)

I checked on her about an hour ago and she's back in the warm hide. The rest of the eggs have moved closer to her cloaca, about an inch away, so hopefully it won't be too long before she passes the rest. None of them that I can see look abnormally large, so I'm still playing the waiting game :)

Well that's all I have to report for now, continue to wish me luck and thanks for reading :)

Edited to add, 2 hours after posting this, Angel passed another pea sized slug, which rolled out of the entrance of her warm hide, a quick check revealed nothing else as yet.
 
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Good Luck! Hope she lays those other ones soon. My RO is also holding out on me. Last year she layed 14 days after her pre-lay, and its now day 16, I believe. I'm not too worried yet, but it sure is hard to wait!

Again, good luck with her, and the eggs.
 
I had a girl do something similar to yours. By day 22 I was very worried about her and she was starting to look like she was going into shed. That day I found what looked like a good egg but the rest of the day nothing and she had a pea sized egg that I massaged and by the end of the day it was at her vent. I also found a second egg in her lay box that looked huge and looked like it would turn out to be a slug. I think that was actually the first egg out since I had felt that pea sized egg since I spotted the first egg on top of her lay box! The next morning still nothing but I "popped" out the tiny slug. The next egg was a good three inches from her vent and it did not appear to be huge.

Finally on day 25 she laid the rest of the clutch another 14 eggs! I was relieved that she had laid her eggs and was alright and have little expetations for how the eggs turn out. As of now (5 days after the final 14 were laid) 15/16 eggs have veins including the large egg I truly thought would end up being a slug! I am still not sure these eggs will hatch but it sure has been interesting!

I did contact some people by email who were wonderful and sympathetic. In the end I think that my temps have been too low. The temps at the bottom of their tubs reach 80 - 85 but the aspen or hides were not that warm. I was told to up the temps until the aspen or hides reach 80-84 and not worry about the temps at the bottom of the tub. Even if the bottom of the tub went over 90 the snake would not allow itself to get burned - provided it had enough room to move about. If you think about it if you hold your snakes when you have a fever you might be touching them with hands that are over 100 degrees! I am also sure that in their natural habitats the stones that they sometimes lither over get to be very hot too.

Anyway good luck with your girl I hope everything turns out well.
 
jodu said:
I had a girl do something similar to yours. By day 22 I was very worried about her and she was starting to look like she was going into shed. That day I found what looked like a good egg but the rest of the day nothing and she had a pea sized egg that I massaged and by the end of the day it was at her vent. I also found a second egg in her lay box that looked huge and looked like it would turn out to be a slug. I think that was actually the first egg out since I had felt that pea sized egg since I spotted the first egg on top of her lay box! The next morning still nothing but I "popped" out the tiny slug. The next egg was a good three inches from her vent and it did not appear to be huge.

Finally on day 25 she laid the rest of the clutch another 14 eggs! I was relieved that she had laid her eggs and was alright and have little expetations for how the eggs turn out. As of now (5 days after the final 14 were laid) 15/16 eggs have veins including the large egg I truly thought would end up being a slug! I am still not sure these eggs will hatch but it sure has been interesting!

I did contact some people by email who were wonderful and sympathetic. In the end I think that my temps have been too low. The temps at the bottom of their tubs reach 80 - 85 but the aspen or hides were not that warm. I was told to up the temps until the aspen or hides reach 80-84 and not worry about the temps at the bottom of the tub. Even if the bottom of the tub went over 90 the snake would not allow itself to get burned - provided it had enough room to move about. If you think about it if you hold your snakes when you have a fever you might be touching them with hands that are over 100 degrees! I am also sure that in their natural habitats the stones that they sometimes lither over get to be very hot too.

Anyway good luck with your girl I hope everything turns out well.
Click to expand...

Wow, thank you for that! It's a shame they don't all read the rule books ;)

None of the remaining eggs look over sized and are moving towards the vent. She has now cleared from blue and is holed up in her warm hide, temp 83/84F so I might try just bumping it by a couple of degrees, in case that helps her out a bit. She's in a vivarium, 48" long x 18" deep x 21" high, so has plenty of wiggle room, even with three hides and a nest box :)

I really appreciate your input, thank you again!

I'll update as and when anything else happens :)
 
Fab to hear all still sounds okay Sue ... crossed fingers here for eggs soon!
 
Thanks for the update Sue. Maybe she just needed to get things moving and now the rest of the eggs will pass uneventfully. I'm going to be greedy for you and hope that the rest of the eggs are nice fertile puffy
marshmallows with no ill effects on mom!
Terri
BTW - She started laying on Mother's Day. Coincidence? Maybe not!:shrugs:
 
Yet Another Update 12th May '08

10.30am UK time, 9 hours after last update and some more progress :)

When I checked on Angel at the above time, I found another two eggs in the warm hide, which look fertile and she had moved to her lay box. I took a quick peek at her and she seemed fine, although there was a large gap between the next eggs nearest her cloaca, about an inch away and the ones futher up.

I removed the 2 eggs from the warm hide and have popped them in the incubator, fingers crossed they will make it.

4.30pm UK time.
I just checked on Angel again, 6 hours later, just a quick peek, as she's still in the lay box and there are no more eggs laid yet. She has 2? eggs near the cloaca, still about an inch away, but the gap between them and the ones further up seems to be closing/getting smaller. I did not open the box, just moved a piece of cork so that I could see in the side and she is laying on top of the vermiculite, not buried in it. She seems to be resting happily, not in any distress/straining or anything, so I'm leaving her alone and keeping my fingers crossed that this will all be over reasonably soon :)

Please keep wishing me luck, it seems to be helping, so thank you!
 
One of mine had her prelay shed shed several weeks ago, but she has steadily been eating like a pig and not hanging in her lay box, so I tried reintroducing the male & she let him breed her again. I am guessing that what I thought was a pre-lay shed was just a pre-ovulation shed & that she was simply willing to breed much earlier than the other girls (I didn't brummate this year and every one shed twice before allowing the boys to "contribute")
 
Last update for 12th May

Angel came out and shed a couple of hours ago. I am hoping that the wriggling she did getting out of her old skin, helps to move the rest of the eggs down and out, fingers crossed.

I am not going to check on her until the morning, she is now hanging out in her warm hide again :shrugs:
 
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