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Posted by Chance on August 27, 2002 at 08:00:10:
My female, 4' mangrove snake has just shed her eyecaps and is about ready to slough the skin. When I took her out last night to check on her, I noticed some lumps toward the front of her body on the bottom side, and a general thickness throughout the body. I figured the thickness could be because she's just now beginning to take rat pups on her own, however, the lumps are what confuse me. She hasn't been with a male for probably quite some time, so the possibilities of those lumps being developing eggs is very rare. However, has anyone ever had a mangrove that maybe managed some sperm retention to produce a clutch? I'm not even sure this girl is quite large enough for breeding just yet. I suppose the other option is that it could be a cancerous tumor, but I don't exactly want to think about that right now (needless to say though, she'll be seeing the vet soon). The stranger thing is that when I touched them, she seemed to be able to move them, or her muscular contractions from my touch would "hide" them or something like that. Anyway, this just really has me confused. If she is gravid, then she hasn't been with a male since she was in the wild probably over 6 months ago, so sperm retention would be the only possible cause. Anyway, I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on this. Considering that she is a colubrid, just shed, and looks slightly gravid, I'm certainly going to keep an eye on her for the next 7-10 days or so, and who knows, I may end up with a little clutch of mangrove eggs. Virgin birth? Heh, doubtful. But anyway, responces here would be great.
