Question for the breeders out there. This is my first year trying. I paired this fine lady a unknown gene BEL to a lesser spider. Hoping to produce more BELs and maybe find out what else she might have in her. But the question is how do I know if she is gravid with out a ultra sound? I started pairing them in early December and have seen 3 solid locks since then. What’s the time line i should expect? She’s just out of blue and expecting her to shed some time this week. Last week’s meal is the first one I can remember her skipping. She normal takes food every time, even in shed. She’s currently 2230gs
Well the most obvious way to tell if she is gravid is to see if she has gotten chunkier at all and you can also feel along her body and feel the developing eggs. Sometimes they also wrap around their water bowls
A female is gravid when she ovulates until than there is no real timeline, it can take 1 lock or 10 it depends.
Follicular development from start to ovulation can take 4 to 8 months, so what you need is be able to recognise and interpret the signs your female is giving you to see where she stands.
Now once she ovulates (and I do not recommend palpating after a female ovulate), egg laying will take place on average 45 days later (in between you will have a pre-lay she 14 days after ovy)
Keep in mind that a female getting chunkier does not mean that she is gravid, during the follicular development females will build up however this does not always equal eggs.
I’m surprised no one has suggested the black light check for the unknown BEL. Could be worth a shot.
Palpating usually involves just letting the snake naturally crawl out of your hands. You may feel marbles where there normally aren’t marbles. No need to poke or prod. It’s just a waiting game.
The blacklight, you mean? It’s a whole other art to ID morphs by blacklight. There are a couple that will still show no pattern at all. But if that’s what you have then it should help weed out what you don’t have!
