Timelines on Gravid females?

[ConcinusMan]

Just out of curiosity, what is the general timeline for gravid females from fertilization to birth?

60-90 days. But it's worth mentioning that fertilization doesn't always occur the moment they lock up. Females will sometimes mate, store the sperm, and ovulate weeks, months or even a year later and that's when the actual gestation starts. Most of the time though, they give birth 60-90 days after mating in spring.

Mainly I ask because the scar tissue from Harley's surgery last year causes a long section of her abdomen to look like it constantly has scale spread (and will probably look like that till she sheds

Actually, it will probably always look like that.

I'm thinking it'll be difficult for me to tell she's gravid for sure until near the end

Which is nothing unusual. It's not usually obvious until the last 2-3 weeks.

We don't have a gram scale, so I can't weigh her.

Then there really is no way for you to know if she's gravid for sure. The only way I've ever been able to tell for sure before 2-3 weeks from birth, is by weighing them once a week after I observe mating behavior or a lockup.

As Greg said, green stuff is normal post-brumation or when they been off food or in a winter slow-down period.

I would think that if they mated, the male would have no interest in her at all, it wouldn't taper off. At least that is what has always happened with mine. Sometimes post brumation shedding cycle will attract the male even when the female is not receptive. In that case it would go like you described.

If you have a friendly vet nearby they will usually let you use their small animal scale without charging or seeing the snake. You can put her in a pillow case and just weigh her, case and all in Kg or grams on an empty stomach. Come back a week or two later also on an empty stomach, using the same pillow case and weigh her again. If she's gained significantly (several grams) she's probably gravid.

(also, she is very pissy and wants to flatten out if you mess with her too much)

Yeah, they'll do that when they're not receptive and the male has been harassing her for days. You would probably be grouch too if you couldn't even take a dump without someone trying to hump your leg lol