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Will a Female still hook up if she is gravid?

C

C.Stringer22

New member
I have a female that shedded last night we think she might be gravid but not really sure and I had my male and her together for a few times and I saw hook ups alot but me and my husband was talking last night and we was tryin to figure out if gravid females will still hook up with a male and does a gravid female also have a bad smell bc we have given her baths and cleaned out her viv but she still smells bad and she has never smelled like this before. so please help if you can :)
 
I have a corn thats half skunk too.... lol Check her belly scales for any unusal color, just to be safe(scale rot)

Sometimes they will hook up if they are gravid. Females can retain sperm for a second clutch. I would get her a lay box(sterlite shoe box) and put some vermiculite or other egg laying material in it.. Good chance your gonna have eggs
 
Okay well I already have her lay box in her viv and ready for her to lay if she is and she doesnt have scale rot I have checked her for that...and she does look a little stretched out but I cant really tell bc I see her everyday...lol
 
Some people recommend putting the pair together again the day after what you would think is the pre-lay shed. If the female is gravid, she will not breed. If she breeds, you may catch the eggs in time to fertilize them. If yours _did_ breed, I would continue to pair them up.
 
Nanci said:
Some people recommend putting the pair together again the day after what you would think is the pre-lay shed. If the female is gravid, she will not breed. If she breeds, you may catch the eggs in time to fertilize them. If yours _did_ breed, I would continue to pair them up.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I have a gravid female that has been breed 2 times(witnessed) in the past 10 days. 3 days ago she had her pre-lay shed and she is assumed to be breed to a different male for her current eggs. Perhaps gravid means something a little different in your eyes but to me it is burdened with eggs or full of eggs. In which most females will mate when producing egg follicles and can mate throughout the process from what I understand.
 
I think in general, a gravid female that is full of eggs is reluctant to breed again, but there are exceptions to every rule. Putting a female that you're not sure is gravid back with the male is done to make sure the eggs get fertilized in case she isn't gravid. Having said this, I generally don't do it unless it's a clutch of eggs I really have my heart set on, I don't like to put the stress on them if they really are about to lay eggs.
 
Again I respectfully disagree Nanci. But I do agree to keep introducing a male if you think there is a chance it didn't take.

Jen, I don't normally do this but this is actually an experiment that I am doing for a one of those clutches I have my heart set on. And I do agree with you on the exception. Perhaps this is one of those exceptions.
 
I will admit an ovulating female can look a lot like a gravid one. I have had one shed that I thought was going to lay a clutch, but didn't. I did try to reintroduce the male to that one, she wasn't interested. She has stayed in the nest box all this time and just shed again. Hopefully eggs soon.
 
thanks everyone I did put the male back with her and she did not way to be around him at all and same with him, this is the frist time Ive breed her and my male together I know they are both proven breeders and I did take a look at that thread and she looks like that to me but like I said its hard for me to tell... and Ill put some pics up and see what ya'll think, here is one from a couple weeks ago and Ill get a more recent one up as soon as I get it taken but please help me out
 
picture.php
 
Is the first pic a lot older than the others? In that pic she looks overweight more than anything else. Her tail looks really big! In your other post, the pics you just took, I'd say possibly gravid but not that far along? Has she been eating, they often refuse food once they are kind of far along. How long ago were you putting the two together and seeing hookups?
 
yes the first pic is an older on from around 5/9 and I had her hooked up from 4/30 until about 5/5 and she does refuse food the last time she eat was 4/30 ( I have chart for each of my snakes I write everything down) and I have tried small fuzzies and still nothing... and I saw them hook up everyday that I had them together and I even saw the semen on the bedding afterwards
 
I have a female that I saw hook up with a male. She shed and no eggs so I put the male back in and she wanted nothing to do with him to the point that she started musking, something she had never done.

This may be the case with your girl and she may be musking because she wants to be left alone.

...my $0.02
 
dwyn127 said:
I have a female that I saw hook up with a male. She shed and no eggs so I put the male back in and she wanted nothing to do with him to the point that she started musking, something she had never done.

This may be the case with your girl and she may be musking because she wants to be left alone.

...my $0.02
Click to expand...

well I really hope that thats not the case with her bc Ive put in alot of time and effort into getting her ready to breed and them finding the perfect male to breed her to... even though Idk they het of either one of them.
 
I have a female that looks more gravid when she's ovulating, than when she is actually gravid. In fact, when I got her, the guy was positive she was gravid, & she did look it, but she never laid eggs. This season, when I was pairing her with the male I borrowed, I never saw any hookups, but I kept pairing her. At one point, she had that swollen look, & I remembered that's how she looked when I got her, so on a hunch, I put the male in with her again, & while I still never saw hookups, I saw evidence. She didn't get that big when she was gravid, & I was doubting whether she took or not, because she waited a long time after she shed before she finally laid eggs.

My Alabama girls never looked gravid, & I wasn't sure they took, but they both laid eggs.
 
Yeah my Popcorn never looked gravid while Milksnake did. Popcorn Laid two more eggs than Milksnake but Milksnake's were almost twice the size. Just be ready either way :)
 
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