I got a proven breeder ball python from a friend who was downsizing his collection and I paired her 3-4 times late last year with a male I unfortunately don’t have any more. She hasn’t eaten in seven months and she’s shed twice, but she hasn’t laid any eggs. This is my first time trying to breed ball pythons and I’m a bit concerned since nothing seems to be happening with her and she’s not eating (though she isn’t losing any weight). Do some BPs just develop eggs super slowly?
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Mind sharing a photo of your girl?
Follicular development can take 4-8 months to occur, females can retain sperm from a single successful lock for several months, possibly up to years.
However they should still be having a good feed response during follicular development.
Did you ever observe any locks at all, or did you just pair them and assume a lock occured?
Have you observed ovulation in your girl?
They usually don’t start going off of food until after ovulation.
When exactly did you pair her? How often did you pair her?
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CMSreptiles has some great questions. I want to add on a couple as well.
How long did you have her before breeding her?
Was she eating well for you before you paired her?
What kind of setup was she in vs what she’s in now?
I’ve seen some picky eaters, but as mentioned they usually don’t stop eating entirely before ovulating.
Have you seen her acting in any weird ways?
Has she been staying on the cool side?
Did she wrap around her water bowl or seem to soak in it a lot?
Has she been laying belly up on her heated side at all?
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Thank you both for your responses!
I don’t remember exactly when I paired my snake (Excelsa), as I was using an online snake tracking website to log her mating and after I sold her mate I deleted his entry, which unfortunately deleted all logs related to him, including Excelsa’s mating logs (which I did not know in advance or else I wouldn’t have deleted him… sigh). But I got them mid-September and sold him mid-Dec and I paired them three times, once each in Oct, Nov, and Dec. I did confirm locks each time. I don’t know what ovulation exactly looks like, but I haven’t seen any changes in Excelsa but I might just be missing something. I weigh her (and all my other snakes) once a month or every other month and her weight has been pretty steady. (Sept 1982g, Nov 2174g, Jan 2040g, April 1936g). She ate a f/t jumbo rat for me early Oct and hasn’t since (I’ve been offering a f/t small rat monthly and she’s always refused). I haven’t tried feeding fresh killed or live. She refused a f/t small rat on 4/22. According to her previous owner, her last clutch was on 7/21/22.
I’m keeping her in the same rack system her previous owner did (got the racks and some snakes from him at the same time) in a 17" x 31" bin - not the best, I know, but I don’t have the space to put her in a proper enclosure right now (it’s something I’m working on). The thermostat is set to 100F, which gives her a warm end of 84-87F (measured just now with a heat gun). The warm side is generally drier than the cool side, which I keep damp. She has a pretty large water bowl for the bin size since I’ve read that ovulating females like to soak and curl around it to regulate their temp and I have observed her curled around it, but I don’t know if that’s just because the bin is kinda small for her size or she’s curling around it to regulate temp. I haven’t seen her soaking, nor laying belly up.
(Today was cleaning day which is why there isn’t enrichment or a water bowl in her bin - I had just put fresh substrate in it before taking the pics.)
Judging from the timing of the pairings and the photos of her you’ve sent she does not appear to be gravid or developing follicles. If she is developing follicles she might be very early in development.
However since you have confirmed locks there is always a chance she could develop and ovulate with retained sperm in the future. There is also a chance that the male did not produce viable sperm, it can happen. Or there is the possibility that she was gravid but reabsorbed the eggs, that could explain why she hasn’t been taking meals since she took back all of those nutrients.
She does appear to be pretty healthy though for refusing meals for 7 months so I wouldn’t worry unless she starts showing odd symptoms or starts dropping weight rapidly.
(Tip: If she’s currently still around 1900g she should be eating 190-200 gram rats every 10 days)
For future reference, Ovulation is very obvious visually and lasts for 24 hours. It will look like your snake swallowed a football and the area will feel very firm, the snake may even have tail suck which is exactly how it sounds… the tail will look scrunched up and the belly side might look a bit concave 2-3 inches above the vent. The snake might also behave restlessly as if she’s really uncomfortable (she very well might be while she is in that state).
If she hasn’t been offered live or fresh killed and isn’t taking f/t currently it wouldn’t hurt to offer her and see if she’ll take the other 2 options as long as the live feedings are monitored.
(Edit): Do you remember the age & weight of the male?
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The male was 3 years old and 1130g. I’m not sure if he was bred before.
Thank you for all the great information! I’ll keep monitoring her and try offering her live soon. I hope she produces for me eventually 
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Youre welcome, best of wishes to you and your girl!
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Yup. Big agree with CMS
Since she hasn’t been eating regularly before being paired and not showing many behaviors or signs I would assume she is being a picky eater. One of my boys went almost a year before he finally started taking live meals again. And only when he got older did he decide f/t was the best thing ever.
BPs are known for being fussy eaters. And obviously there wouldn’t be an issue with stress from a new enclosure since it was the same one. Lol.
Some are so picky they want only a certain color of rodent. Hopefully she’ll take a couple fresh kill for you. Otherwise I hope she converts off live quickly for you. It’s just safer for everyone overall.
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