One of our male jungle carpets got a bit frantic this fall -- constantly pacing in his enclosure and stopped eating. Assuming he wants to breed, we put him with a female, and the pairing resulted in locking and a happy male. I left the couple together for about a week, but separated them again before feeding. The female ate, but the male refused and started the frantic pacing again. I put him back with the female, after she had a couple days to digest her meal, and he is at peace again.

Now, I have no experience breeding these guys, and I had no intentions of breeding them this season, but there you have it. Is it OK to leave the male in with the female most of the time? In other words, only separate them for feeding? The male just only seems at peace when he is with the female. Also, do these guys have a consistent pre-lay shed like the ball pythons? I assume I should remove the male around egg laying time. I am not looking forward to taking the eggs away from this big girl when the time comes.