# Power cuts and gravid snakes



## thelooneyflyer (Dec 27, 2007)

With the weather as it is and the chance of power cuts, plus it being python breeding season, it got me thinking what would happen if a gravid snake was exposed to low temperatures for a day or more?

I've read articles about it happening with eggs in incubators, but nothing about pre laying/gravid females.

I'd suspect potentially you could end up with a number of slugs but wondered if anyone had any experience of it.


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## NickN (11 mo ago)

Funnily enough I was just watching one of Jason's Exotic Reptiles older videos where he said that, after a week away, during which time the thermostats on the enclosure of one particular gravid snake conked out for an unknown number of days, so no heat, the result sadly was slugs. Think that was a Dumeril's Boa or possibly a Nicaraguan Boa.


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## thelooneyflyer (Dec 27, 2007)

NickN said:


> Funnily enough I was just watching one of Jason's Exotic Reptiles older videos where he said that, after a week away, during which time the thermostats on the enclosure of one particular gravid snake conked out for an unknown number of days, so no heat, the result sadly was slugs. Think that was a Dumeril's Boa or possibly a Nicaraguan Boa.


I wonder if It's any different with egg bearing v live bearing.

I guess it would all depend on severity of temp drops and length of time.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

My guess, and it is a guess, is that if a live bearer can not gain access to heat whilst gravid there is a high probability that the young will either develop deformities, or produce still born young. I would also presume that this all depends on the stage of embryo development. If it happens towards the end of gestation there may be more chance of the young surviving compared to if it happens not long after ovulation. Also as mentioned, the duration the cool period lasted, and how cold the enclosure got would also play a part in the outcome.


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## loxocemus (Sep 2, 2006)

for things like corns blk rats and probably most subtropical colubrids its probably ok, but in sensitive species like boa constrictors (boas are generally hardy but a gravid female is a cooker with a fine tuned preset) a large drop in temp can be catastrophic, causing the abortion of the pre term neonates, it can be heart-breaking seeing what could have been.

in pythons, a temp drop can kill fertile eggs resulting in eggs that fail. a temporary incubator failure can cause egg death/dead in eggs or if they make it to term it can cause kinks or abnormal patterns. i remember Philippe de Vosjoli experimented with tweaking the incubator temps by a tiny amount, in the last 14 days of ball python incubation, resulting in a high degree of striping in the patterns.

rgds
ed


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## Jibbajabba (Jan 31, 2011)

When I bred Royals / Balls I had a friend accidentally unplugging a stack of vivs with four gravid females and all eggs turned into slugs apart from a single egg. Last egg hatched but clearly had a neurological issue and I had to put it down. 

A gravid / pregnant Gaboon viper's thermostat died during a long weekend and she gave birth to 35 babies - 'only' half were still born so I was lucky there. 

After those two incidents I actually started using remote thermometers and now with just a single Boa - I even have webcams in the vivarium lol ... 

So yea - nothing good comes out of cold temps with gravid snakes unfortunately ...


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