My first ball python pairing!

Well I finally have a couple ball pythons that are old enough to breed! Both are proven and about four years old, the female is a 2800 gram Jungle Woma x Spider and the male is a 1000 gram Spider x Pied. Both seem to be in good physical condition, they look like they are in breeding condition to me. They are in an ARS-8018 tub and it looks like they have plenty of room.

Any suggestions on how to pair them up? I was thinking of keeping the male in there during the week and then separating him for the weekend to give him a couple days off and to feed them both. How many weeks / months do you keep them together? Maybe until the female looks a bit bumpy and full of eggs?

http://www.capsandstems.com/ballpythonpairing.JPG

Ive never got into breeding but did some researching and brian had a good starting video to base research on, imo.

https://youtu.be/-itUA4UYtFw

Hope it helps!

One step at a time

Well , I would be cautious with that pairing and rethink it. The underlying spider X spider genes may not be the best to go with due to the possibilities of defects within the egg and development stages. Just my opinion.

As for times give him 3 days in her tub then a break. Only need to pair them once a month. And I pair till she rejects him

I start pairing in November and keep going through June-ish, until all of my girls have ovulated, or until it becomes obvious that she wasn't nothing to do with being paired. My routine generally looks like this: I feed on Saturday and pair on Tuesday. I leave the male in with the female until Friday or until I see a lock, whichever is first. Having them paired up once per shed cycle/once per month is plenty.

I would not do a spider to spider pairing like that. Otherwise, I pair about once a month for 2-3 days or less if they lock sooner. I have a few going that lock up with in an hour so I can usually seperate them the next day if they're done.

Just be aware of the potential for bad eggs or dead-in-egg babies when pairing two spiders together. You have a 1 in 4 chance with every egg to produce a baby who will not survive. From the research I've done into the super spider, some babies will survive full term until exposure to oxygen; it appears there is some sort of lung toxicity issue that occurs when the babies take their first breath. So it is very tragic, to pip a baby and watch it writhe and die in the egg.

I personally would pick up another male and female pair, so that you don't have to cross the two spiders together... Maybe some pastel hets for bumblebee pieds?

Also, for future reference, I believe NERD has a video and a list on their website explaining and documenting known lethal combos.

EDIT: Didn't realize the female isn't het for pied. Gives you even more possibilities for a potential mate :)