poop, urates, and pee...

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Just started my first pairing. I put the male in the females cb70 tub.... I use newspaper for the substrate. I plan to have him in for 3 days, out for 4 days.

The question is, if you peek in the tub and see that someone has pooped or peed, if they are not actively locked, should you take them out of the tub, clean and then put them back in? Or should they be left alone for the 3 days?

thanks,

[Freakie_frog]

I would seperate them and clean the tub then put them back in the females tub and keep rocking.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Two trains of thought on this one ... some guys/gals go ahead and clean it right away ... others leave it because believe it or not, all of that nasty smell and mess sometimes gets the snakes "in the mood" ... ball pythons seem to love breeding in their own stank. Also, I think that someone told me once that all that mess after you pair them up is about the males and females scenting the tub with their pheromones ... if you clean out the tub ... no more pheromones.

When I started breeding ball pythons in the mid 90's I had several breeders tell me that they barely cleaned cages during breeding season ... lots of things have changed over the last 10+ years in reptile husbandry and ball python breeding, but if you do hear someone saying to leave the cages dirty, at least you know there's a history there.

-adam

[Freakie_frog]

Very interesting points Adam. Now just to ask a question since I'm still an avid pupil. Your still picking the turds out and spot cleaning but just not disinfecting the tub and changing paper when 100% needed ore are you leaving all of that in till you separate the pair.

[Tosha_Mc]

At the advice of another breeder I did far less cleaning in the males tubs than I normally would and they bred beautifully this season. Well except for the one with a certain kink for the fat girls but once I found his turn on he was good to go as well!

I've also heard some breeders tell people to put poop from other snakes in the tub if you have a pair that wont breed. So yeah -- I wouldn't necessarily separate the pair just to clean the tub.

[tigerlily]

I'm much more lenient when cleaning during breeding season. I will not disturb a pair to clean a cage, but if I notice something when separating them I might change the paper but not thoroughly scrub the tank down, like I would normally. Of course that's just little ole me.

[starmom]

Oh jeez....guess what I just did last night.....

[Adam_Wysocki]

Very interesting points Adam. Now just to ask a question since I'm still an avid pupil. Your still picking the turds out and spot cleaning but just not disinfecting the tub and changing paper when 100% needed ore are you leaving all of that in till you separate the pair.

LOL ... I haven't said what "I" do, I'm just conveying something that I've heard others do ... and from what I understand, many people just leave all of the stuff in there until they either separate the male from the female ... or even better, finish running the males that they're going to run through that female for the giving breeding cycle ... "cycle" being the 2-6 ish days (or whatever) that the female might be seeing males before being given a rest.

As far as what I do, I'm a very bizarre and very complicated little man ... it would take volumes to explain and even then, most would be confounded.

-adam

[Freakie_frog]

Riddle me this. Thanks for clearing that up.. LOL

[Adam_Wysocki]

Riddle me this. Thanks for clearing that up.. LOL

Just remember ... there's no "ONE PLAN" that works for every pair of ball pythons ... It seems like I have a bunch of boys and girls that I need to do something a little different for ... anyone can just put snakes together in a box ... a breeder knows their animals and figures out what's required for each specific pairing to be successful. Trial and error is your only true friend when it comes to breeding ball pythons. Do not be afraid to experiment to see what works best for you and your snakes!!

Tosha, the kinky boys that like the sexy big girls are my fav!!!!

-adam