breed till ..?

So this is my first season breeding, and I have been breeding my one and only pair since mid-December and haven't witnessed a lock. I know I could have missed it when I was sleeping etc.., but still haven't seen one. I have been pairing them up 3 days on, 4 off and I have cooled both of them. I'm totally dedicated to having some baby snakes this year, and I know you can breed them relatively year round. My question is how long can I keep pairing them up before it can be harmful/ too stressful for their own health? I love these animals and don't want to hurt them. I just want some baby snakes this spring.

Hi,

Check out Adam's stubborn breeder tricks page.

How are the snakes eating?

Is the male losing condition or have problems around his vent?

Since two of my girls didn't lay at all last year my male has been getting periodic (but widely spaced ) conjugal visits for over a year.

But if he stopped eating or developed other problems then I would definately stop pairing them up till he was back in form.

Hopefully some of the more experienced members can give you more specific advice though. :please:


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Check out Adam's stubborn breeder tricks page.

How are the snakes eating?

Is the male losing condition or have problems around his vent?

Since two of my girls didn't lay at all last year my male has been getting periodic (but widely spaced ) conjugal visits for over a year.

But if he stopped eating or developed other problems then I would definately stop pairing them up till he was back in form.

Hopefully some of the more experienced members can give you more specific advice though. :please:


dr del

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They are both still eating, she will only eat mice, and he only eats rats. Ifeed them both once a week. His vent is not crusty or anything like that, like I said I'm a nosy daddy, and I'm always checking on them when I pair them up.

this is my first year breeding aswell i follow this guideline i hope it helps!! i have already experienced some ovulations on my females


In October we lower our temps at night. The hot spot goes down to 82 F and the cool end is 72 F.
We start to adjust our lighting to make shorter days. 14 hours dark - 10 hours of light. We use natural sunlight spectrum bulbs in our room. Although Ball pythons come from Africa and they live on or very close to the equator, where there is no light change (12/12), we still increase the length of darkness during the breeding season. Is there any scientific reasoning behind it? Not really...it's just the way we do it and it works for us. I think more hours in the dark lead to more security. More security...the more comfortable they are and the more they may breed. It also marks a change in seasons.
Starting Nov. 1 we introduce males into the female's containers. We leave them in for 2 - 3 days or shorter if we observe copulation.
We try to breed every female at least once every shed cycle. Some do more but this works for us and we don't exhaust our males this way.
We continue to feed during the breeding season, but only small meals (3 -4 week old rats) and only every 10 - 14 days., depending on where we are in the breeding cycle. More in the beginning...less at the end. We feed our snakes as long as they want to eat. When they stop feeding on their own is usually a good sign and a time to look for signs of building towards ovulation. (See pics below).
We continue to observe and document all activity ...positive or negative.
Humidity is in the 60 - 65% range in our room all year.
Many breeders start palpating for follicles in January. We do not. I'm not that good at it so I wait until mid February. I've been fooled when I didn't feel any early only to have females go on and ovulate. I also look for other obvious signs that are be covered below.
On Feb.. 14th (Valentine's day - Hey... I'm a hopeless romantic!) I start to raise temps back to normal 24/7. 92 F hot spot - 82 F cool end.
I keep pairing until I see obvious signs or until the end of April.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Check out Adam's stubborn breeder tricks page.

How are the snakes eating?

But if he stopped eating or developed other problems then I would definately stop pairing them up till he was back in form.

. :please:


dr del

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hey there is nothing wrong with snakes not eating during the months of november till spring alot of BP's go off eatin in the winter months and especially when they are breeding, i have actually read about a case where a BP went of eating for 22 months which is almost 2 years, if your BP's are not eating the only thing you should worry about is if they are losing weight, my big female of 2000 grams hasnt eaten since early october and she just ovulated and looks super healthy and isnt losing any weight

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joshthaxton

So this is my first season breeding, and I have been breeding my one and only pair since mid-December and haven't witnessed a lock. I know I could have missed it when I was sleeping etc.., but still haven't seen one. I have been pairing them up 3 days on, 4 off and I have cooled both of them. I'm totally dedicated to having some baby snakes this year, and I know you can breed them relatively year round. My question is how long can I keep pairing them up before it can be harmful/ too stressful for their own health? I love these animals and don't want to hurt them. I just want some baby snakes this spring.

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try to keep the room they are in as dark as you can for added comfort and less stress if you dont mind me asking how much does you male weigh and how much does your female weigh they could just not be ready, has your male produced sperm slugs? what are your temps at what is your humidity at?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Python Guru

this is my first year breeding aswell i follow this guideline i hope it helps!! i have already experienced some ovulations on my females


In October we lower our temps at night. The hot spot goes down to 82 F and the cool end is 72 F.
We start to adjust our lighting to make shorter days. 14 hours dark - 10 hours of light. We use natural sunlight spectrum bulbs in our room. Although Ball pythons come from Africa and they live on or very close to the equator, where there is no light change (12/12), we still increase the length of darkness during the breeding season. Is there any scientific reasoning behind it? Not really...it's just the way we do it and it works for us. I think more hours in the dark lead to more security. More security...the more comfortable they are and the more they may breed. It also marks a change in seasons.
Starting Nov. 1 we introduce males into the female's containers. We leave them in for 2 - 3 days or shorter if we observe copulation.
We try to breed every female at least once every shed cycle. Some do more but this works for us and we don't exhaust our males this way.
We continue to feed during the breeding season, but only small meals (3 -4 week old rats) and only every 10 - 14 days., depending on where we are in the breeding cycle. More in the beginning...less at the end. We feed our snakes as long as they want to eat. When they stop feeding on their own is usually a good sign and a time to look for signs of building towards ovulation. (See pics below).
We continue to observe and document all activity ...positive or negative.
Humidity is in the 60 - 65% range in our room all year.
Many breeders start palpating for follicles in January. We do not. I'm not that good at it so I wait until mid February. I've been fooled when I didn't feel any early only to have females go on and ovulate. I also look for other obvious signs that are be covered below.
On Feb.. 14th (Valentine's day - Hey... I'm a hopeless romantic!) I start to raise temps back to normal 24/7. 92 F hot spot - 82 F cool end.
I keep pairing until I see obvious signs or until the end of April.

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Hey man, I'm not trying to be a d**k, but I suggest you give credit to Mark Mandic. Since that is obviously where you copied the text from.
-Steven

STEVEN!!!! stop following me! lol ur not being a D**K ur totally right i thought i put markus jayne in there somewhere but i guess i didnt. . . . .


here is the actual site for anyone else with breeding questions http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html its very helpful and Mark is a great guy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Python Guru

try to keep the room they are in as dark as you can for added comfort and less stress if you dont mind me asking how much does you male weigh and how much does your female weigh they could just not be ready, has your male produced sperm slugs? what are your temps at what is your humidity at?

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My female weighs around 1800g and my male is around 1100g. I do not know if the male is producing plugs, I have never popped before, so I don't know. My temps are around 85 in the day and 82 at night. Humidity 65-70% all day

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joshthaxton

My female weighs around 1800g and my male is around 1100g. I do not know if the male is producing plugs, I have never popped before, so I don't know. My temps are around 85 in the day and 82 at night. Humidity 65-70% all day

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try dropping your temps again to around 82 F on the hot end, and 72 F on the cool side, i could just be ur temps are a little too high, they are definately big enough to breed so you shouldnt be worried about that, just keep tryin 3 days together 3 days apart, they might have even locked when you were not there to witness it, try this out and let me know how it goes any other questions you can always PM or email me to be glad to help with whatever i can