Should I?

My friend has a female ball python ready for breeding. He said he wants to use my male. He said they have to stay in the same tank from nov to march. This correct? He said he will give me half the babies.

Need your thoughts here.

I have two females & want to breed them but I'm not educated enough. My friend has breeded bp before.

Pretty sure they don't need to stay together that long. I only have one breeding season in the books but I only had mine together from November to Jan 3 days together then 2 off to eat for the male. But like I said I'm not an expert.

No, most breeders put the male in for 3 days then give a 3 day break apart. I think it would be stressful to make them live together for all those months.

Defenetly wouldn't just leave them in the same tank for that long. He may not ever eat and work him self to death.

Then you have the quarantine time before and after. ( which some say 1-3 months)

There are a lot of ifs on lending out your own to someone. It could go really well though. how well do you trust your friend to make sure your BP stays healthy and in good hands?

100% trust. I just wanted to get information.

If your friend thinks they need to be housed together for 5 months to breed then I wouldn't trust them. They didn't do enough research. I have never heard of a breeder leaving ball pythons together that long for breeding. Males will breed themselves to death. There needs to be a break in there for the male and the female and they need to be offered food.

This site can explain the basics of breeding to you:http://ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

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Originally Posted by NormalBallPythons

100% trust. I just wanted to get information.

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That's good and can turn out well for both of you. On the other hand it may not. So many things can happen. Just say this one thing happens. You only end up with 1 of a kind, who gets it? There is thread around somewhere with some other things. Even though it's a good friend just make sure of the details...

I took a quick look at the link. So if they lock up that's it for those two right? He only will have my male. There needs to be breaks until they lock up. So both snakes can eat. I'm not going to learn everything here right now but want to know the basics.

Most people continue pairing until the female ovulates, so they tend to lock multiple times. Put them together for 3 days and then separate them for 3 days. You won't always see a lock and food should be offered when they are apart.

This statement "He said they have to stay in the same tank from nov. to march." says everything one needs to know, he hasn't a clue how to properly care for or breed ball pythons.

tell him no thanks, he obviously has no idea what he's doing. the breeding part is easy, its the babies that are going to be the handful. do either of u know how to care for hatchlings?

I have to agree, that if he thinks they stay in the same tank for that long he's not very well versed in ball python breeding. I suggest you both start doing some research on breeding. Bad things can happen to both the male and the female if things aren't done right.

Well my friend picked up my bp. I misunderstood him. He said it's off & on. So hopefully this turns out good.

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Originally Posted by NormalBallPythons

I took a quick look at the link. So if they lock up that's it for those two right? He only will have my male. There needs to be breaks until they lock up. So both snakes can eat. I'm not going to learn everything here right now but want to know the basics.

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If it was that easy the world would be overloaded with ball pythons :O

Most of my pairings last season took from November to March and some went on until May before I got an ovulation.

We've had a virgin 1 yr old male lock up 2 different girls multiple times already but don't expect any follicle growth until Feb-March.

Good luck, hopefully all goes well and you get some babies out of it, what are the snakes involved? Morph male?

Normal bp

I just got home from my friends. The snakes just checked each other out. I ended up taking my male home. I know I don't know enough to breed & honestly my friend needs to learn more. I'm taking the advice from here & doing more research. Don't want to hurt my snake. Thanks

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Originally Posted by NormalBallPythons

I just got home from my friends. The snakes just checked each other out. I ended up taking my male home. I know I don't know enough to breed & honestly my friend needs to learn more. I'm taking the advice from here & doing more research. Don't want to hurt my snake. Thanks

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Good call :gj:

Start your research in reverse. First learn and understand how to incubate eggs safely. Then reasearch the breeding part. Breeding is the easy part. Keeping viable is where most newcomers go wrong. Ball pythons are built by mother nature to live long and reproduce their entire life. If a male does not get breaks or small meals he can breed himself to death. All my males go in for 3 days and then get a break. I offer small meals ever 10 days or so. If the male doesnt eat for a awhile he gets an extended break. Also if your breeding in tanks rather then tubs your husbandry has to be spot on. Tanks are harder to keep the temps regular so you need to know what your doing. Heres a prime example of my point. A friend of mine bought some gravid imports last year. With no experience in what to do with the eggs and him refusing to let me incubate them in my walk in incubator for him he tried to do it himself. Guess what? Not one egg hatched. Not a single one. Turns out he was using ambient room temps to try and incubate. Chalk that up to lack of knowledge.

Curiuos. Are you breeding morphs or normals?

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Originally Posted by Subdriven

Curiuos. Are you breeding morphs or normals?

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The OP says Normals :)

Good call on bringing your male home. Breeding is fun, exciting and full of surprises, do it right the first time and you'll be hooked, learn wrong and rush things and you may never want to do it again.

Additionally to what has been said already with the fact that your friend probably has a very limited knowledge regarding breeding I would also recommend you not to trust someone that does not have solid quarantine practices, you just don't send animals on a loan and have them paired without quarantine whatsoever.

Rushing into breeding not allowing proper quarantine practices can be disastrous.

Finally if down the road you chose to do a loan with someone make sure you have everything in writing, including everything from the pairing being done, to how the clutch is divided without forgetting who would be responsible for vet care if required, or how the animal would be replaced should something happen.

I understand. Thanks again.

I sold my Dumeril boa to a repitile store & they held it not for sale for one week. Then put it out for sale. The pet store is zoo creatures. ( NERD )

Should they held it not for sale longer?

Like I need to for my new bp?

make sure you would have people who would want normals next time especially males..........not a whole lot of people want normal males in their breeding collections normal males will most be pets only so over all you wont make much money at all

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Originally Posted by NormalBallPythons

I understand. Thanks again.

I sold my Dumeril boa to a repitile store & they held it not for sale for one week. Then put it out for sale. The pet store is zoo creatures. ( NERD )

Should they held it not for sale longer?

Like I need to for my new bp?

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I'm going to assume your question is regarding quarantine. Stores do not necessarily quarantine new animals, since they are going to try to resell them quickly. QT is important for animals coming into your collection (and for your animal going to someone else's) because it protects both the new and established snakes from getting each other sick, if there is anything incubating in either one (don't have to have symptoms). People who do breeding loans often QT for 3 months or more, since the snakes will be in the same cage and interacting and not just in the same room/rack.