Gravid female continuing to eat?

[Amanda E]

Has anyone had a female that would continue to eat regular sized meals all the way up to the time they lay their eggs?

I have one that has yet to stop eating her weekly meals, but she should be laying in about 2 weeks and I've never had one eat this much this close to laying. Usually they stop all together or only accept fuzzies, but this one is ravenous.

 

[Charlie]

I have a female amber right now that is definately gravid...I believe she is about 2 weeks behind the female that is in the blue now. She is still eating with vigor but isn't eating as much. I usually feed her two weanlings every week. She only ate one this last feeding time. I guess this really doesn't help you but I belive the snake is going to do what she wants. Is there a reason why you should be concerned that she is still eating? Does she show signs of being gravid?

 

[Simon]

I have one that is exactly like that too..
she is an amel motley...and I can feel her eggs inside~ 17 in total and she is still eating like there is no tomorrow....but the good thing is that she is not regurgitating her meals or anything liek that.....I guess as long as they're willing to eat without reguritation or squishing the eggs...its all good....

 

[DAND]

Yep, I've got a few that continue to eat up to the week of laying. I guess some rules are made to be broken. :shrugs:

 

[Amanda E]

Thanks for the info.

Is there a reason why you should be concerned that she is still eating? Does she show signs of being gravid?

No problems or anything. It just seemed weird to me, that's all.

She's definitely gravid. I can feel the eggs inside of her. Whether or not they will be fertile is another thing. She was bred twice, but both times she was ready to leave before the male was. I hope he was able to do his job okay.

 

[cowtownherper]

This may or may not be relevant to your post. I have a female who layed yesterday. She kept eating right up to the day I thought she should have been laying. She finally laid on the 59th day after breeding. I was way off on the ovulation. My guess is that she retained the sperm for two to three weeks before ovulation witch threw my timing off a little. She did lay eight days after her prelay shed though, witch was right on schedule.

 

[Sasheena]

I've been wondering the same thing. With Kingsnakes I had one girl eat after shedding and pop eggs out a week later, but with corns mine last year consistently stopped feeding. This year I have one creamsicle female who came to me skinny from just having laid eggs and didn't seem to gain much weight over the winter. She was voracious in the spring, and would eat two or three large rat fuzzies. She is now absolutely HUGE, her girth is at least three times what it was two months ago (she's a big girl herself, 4 feet long almost), and she is still eating like there is no tomorrow. She hasn't shown any signs of a pre-lay shed but with her being so immense, I finally put an egg laying box in with her just in case.

Had another girl who followed all the right procedures, off her food, searching for a nest behaviour, the only thing with her... she didn't look like she'd gained any weight. But Monday she presented me with twelve eggs.

Crazy critters!