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My 4 year old female stored males sperm and is now again pregnant underweight HELP

Cocoa3Ghost

I have an addiction <3
Hi there I have a 4 year old female Dilute Ghost corn that I had paired on Jan 28, 2012 weighing in at 360 Grams. She stopped eating on Feb 24, 2012 up until the clutch was laid on Mar 18, 2012 of 12 Healthy eggs. Four days after lay she ate, but during this whole process her weight dropped to 180 Grams which had me concerned. Now on this past Friday (feeding day) Apr 20, 2012 after weighing her when putting her back into her enclosure I felt eggs again 6 to be exact. As of yesterday Monday I felt 8. On Friday she weighed in at 198 Grams WAY under weight and the only thing I can think of is to try and power feed to get some more weight on her so that I don't loose her.

Please Help
Thank you
Danielle
 

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Stuff her if she'll take it. You can help her, as well, to digest faster. I feed my breeding females two large adult mice every 7 to 10 days during breeding season. And as they are F/T mice, I also take the loose skin over their shoulders... and tear it. You can half 'skin' them this way, and the removal of the skin significantly decreases digestion time.
 
I'm going to describe the chain of events for a normal female, and how I manage their care. I feed a female that I am going to breed about every 7-10 days, depending if I want her to gain weight, or if she is at an acceptable pre-breeding weight. I weigh the female at every feeding so I have a good idea about how much weight she is gaining or losing. (It is also a good idea to exercise your female from now until she goes blue before laying. You just need to do 10-15 minutes of gentle exercise daily to make a difference in how toned she is for egg laying).

As soon as she starts breeding, I will be feeding an adult mouse in the 22-26 gram range about every 5-7 days, again depending on how fast I want her to gain, and to coincide with her breeding schedule. I pair the snakes every three days, so the female generally eats every six days. I feed after mating, allowing the female to rest in the breeding bin for a couple hours, if possible, before feeding her. I feed the male on the same schedule as the female, only every 12 days.

When the pairing is done, after five successful matings, or the pair quits, I feed every 5 days until the female goes blue for her pre-lay shed. After the matings are complete, I also remove the female's large water bowl and replace it with a very small one, and provide a lay box. The female often takes up residence in the lay box immediately. Once the female is blue, I do not feed again until the clutch is laid.

When the clutch is laid, I feed that evening or the next day, a smaller meal like a couple hoppers, and then return the female to a 5 day schedule on adult mice. The female will go blue almost immediately, and I will continue to feed while she is blue, for this time only. (I normally avoid feeding snakes while in blue). Once the female sheds, I again watch her weight and keep her at a 5-7 day schedule as she regains her weight. I have heard, but have not really experimented with, that the heavier you feed the female during the post-lay period, the more likely she is to double clutch. So you _may_ be able to use feeding amounts to either promote or discourage double-clutching, depending on what you want.

If the female is going to double clutch, she will generally lay the second clutch at about the time the first clutch pips. When she goes blue, I switch out the water bowl again and provide a lay box again.

After the second clutch is laid, I feed every 5-7 days, and then gradually move from 7 to 10 to 14 days, and keep the female on a 14 day schedule through the winter. You definitely don't want a fat female going into breeding season; lean and muscular is better than fat and flabby.

**********************

It would be helpful to know how much your snake weighed before you bred, after her pre-lay shed, and post-lay. But a healthy clutch can weigh from 100-200 grams, so the post-lay female will lose quite a bit of weight, sometimes. I'd say mine average about 120-150 grams of weight loss.

So your snake seems to be in the expected range of weight loss. I know it is VERY unnerving the first time you see a post-lay female; they seem exceptionally skinny and scrawny. Generally, though, the snake will put on _some_ weight before the second clutch, and drop down to even less than she weighed after the first clutch, but then it is _usually_ very easy to put weight back on her, feeding every 5-7 days and even slitting the mice if you want to promote easier digestion.
 
When feeding multiple food items leading up to a second clutch, I go for smaller than usual items, more often than usual.

6 more eggs isn't too taxing for a second clutch, even with a bit of a post-lay Skinny Minnie. Hopefully your lass will be fine.
 
I weigh them every Friday a couple hours before feed. I am just very concerned as she only weighs 198 Grams right now and she lost almost that with her last lay
 
Feed her as much as she will eat. Will she take rats? They are better then mice. I get the ones the size of adult mice. The shop I get them from call them "rat crawlers". My female double clutched for me last 2 times I bred her an had @15 eggs in each clutch an I could only feel 7-8 as well.
 
Well as of today I can now feel ten but her first clutch I felt all 12 in the last couple weeks and yes I feed my females rats. So I fed her on friday and then today after a other members had advised it was safe to do so, on friday she weighed 198 grams today she weighed in 217 I also understand that some of the other rat might not all be digested. the *Pup* rats I feed range around 22 grams each. I want to try and give her, her regular feed size for as long as I can as she stop eating for 29 days last clutch.
 
I weigh them every Friday a couple hours before feed. I am just very concerned as she only weighs 198 Grams right now and she lost almost that with her last lay

She will be okay! Her weights seem very normal, not alarming, to me.

Also, it is possible, even likely, that without re-breeding, the second clutch will be partially or completely infertile. While disappointing, a clutch of slugs is far less taxing on the female.
 
Thank you everyone for all of your advice as I am going to try the different things you suggested I hope it helps :) make me feel at ease!!
 
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