First time breeding here. I started pairing in November and saw good and consistent follicle growth along with all the behaviors consistent with growing follicles. I spotted what I believed to be an ovulation on May 16. I took her for an ultrasound the following week and her follicles were in the realm of 40+mm (they looked like full blown eggs). The confusing part for me is that she’s showing no signs of a pre-lay shed, which by my dates should have occurred by this week. She’s still pretty thick and feel plump, but definitely not as much compared to when I caught the ovulation.
She’s staying mostly to the warm side for most of the day but will transition to the cool side and curl up around a little mound of bark shes made in her substrate usually once a day.
I’m concerned she may have reabsorbed or what I saw wasn’t a genuine ovulation?
Any thoughts?
Is she still eating? Bowl wrapping? Is she still locking when paired with a male?
I haven’t had it happen with any of my girls, but I have heard of one or two females that missed the prelay and went straight to lay. But given that it seems pretty rare, I would be skeptical of this being a similar case.
I had a girl who absorbed after ovy the first year I owned her. It happens. It sucks if you were really hoping to see it.
I don’t use an ultrasound for my girls, so I wouldn’t be any help there as far as sizes and what you see on screen and such.
1 Like
She’s been off food for a while, probably since April
Her bowl isn’t circular so I think the mound in her substrate that she wraps is sort of serving as that behavior
I stopped pairing after that last ultrasound so I don’t know if she’d lock again. I guess that’s something I could test. She and the male she was with are pretty spirited. Every time I paired I’d catch a lock that lasted at least a full day
Sometimes I give one extra pairing after the ovulation as a ‘just to be sure’ kinda thing.
That could be the case with the wrapping. I’ve had a few girls just full on soak part of themselves when wrapping too.
What are the enclosure temps? If the hot side is running higher that 88f for the basking and 85 ambient she could be trying to regulate more. If the hot spot is 90 or more I’d try knocking it to 88 to be safe and see how she does there.
1 Like
So as far as I’m aware females will not keep the size they gain during the 24 hours or so that they ovulate, they will shrink back down a bit.
If she hasn’t eaten since April and she still feels thick and plump I’d say there’s a high chance she is gravid. Some females do skip their pre-lay shed, either that or she is just a little late.
They aren’t always 100% on time according to the schedule though.
The female from my current pairing ovulated on May 12th, and had her pre-lay shed 17 days later as opposed to the expected 21 days 
So I’m expecting she’ll follow that pattern and lay earlier than expected as well, she’s supposed to be due to lay on the 27th.
I would just continue to monitor her behavior and mark your calendar around 50 days from her ovy date and see how it goes from there.
2 Likes
I’ll toss the male in tonight and check them for any mingling by tomorrow
The hottest is on top of her hide which hovers between 88-90. She’s been siting on the side of the hide with her head resting on top, so she’s probably sitting in about 86-88 for the most part
1 Like
Yeah I think I may just be thinking too much about timelines. I guess at this point it’s out of my control so she’s going to do what she’s going to do. Just hoping that means popping some eggs out 
2 Likes