Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Postby Carpetpythons » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:50 am

We decided to invest in an ultrasound last year and it was the best investment we ever made. It gave us tremendous insight into the reproductive system of our pythons.

The oval shaped objects in the images are the maturing follicles. They have a light coloured edge around them. The first image shows the gall bladder, the reproductive organs start just behind it.

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Re: Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Postby Westley Price » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:55 am

That is very interesting, and I'm sure valuable when breeding on the scale that you do.

I must add, I would certainly need some help interpreting these images, haha.

Are those little rounded shapes in the top of the images the vertebrae?
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Re: Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Postby Carpetpythons » Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:15 am

That would be the ribs. Its a cross section from the top-bottom. The top is where the ultrasound touches the skin on their ribs next to their spine. So you hold the probe dorso-laterally to the body. The dots on the X and Y axis represent 10mm increments. Image 5 has various measurements on the follicles. These measurements represent the diameter over the widest and narrowest part of the follicle. These measurements give us an indication of how far the female is from ovulation. We still have lots to learn but we had 33 clutches last year and we bred everything we intended to with only 2 mating's in most cases.
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Re: Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Postby Bushviper » Wed Feb 15, 2012 11:19 am

I reckon you could come and teach us a thing or two.

I had a vet ultrasound some of my snakes and the one female he said had nothing inside laid eggs two weeks after we sold it and the Gaboon viper that had "36 babies" in it never gave birth. He was right on some of the others but that could have just been luck.

I cannot see anything on these pictures and I am sure the right resolution or frequency will make deciphering the images a lot easier.
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Re: Ultrasound use in Carpet Pythons!

Postby uncutdiamonds » Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:49 pm

I first though you meant to say Carpet Pythons use ultrasound for detecting their prey. But I see now it's about looking into them. Hope the information that can be won that way is useful!
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