Ok, could someone explain whats going on?

I have two ball pythons that have been housed together for years, a male and a female. Now today i came home and saw them coiled together, and deffinately copulating. I don't know whats going on because nothing about the setup has changed to replicate breeding conditions and I've never thought about breeding them, except it probably is a bit silly to have housed them together without thinking of that. could someone tell me ,if this turns out to be a successful fertilization, how long it would take for eggs to develop and what may have happened to cause them to start breeding?

Housing 2 snakes together is not a good idea, there are many bad things that can happen such as unintended breeding. I would advise to separate them immediately.

this is the first thing thats happened in over five years, I'm finding a place to put the make right now, but could someone please tell me what to do about the actual breeding?

There's really no way to tell whether or not it will result in eggs. Just as with people, it only takes once. It could be as soon as 4 or so months.

Nothing about the setup needs to change. If you put a male and a female together, breeding will ultimately result.

Are you 100% positive one is a female, males will attempt to lock up other males in a sign of dominance too. :rolleye2:

trust me, its a girl. Tail shape, ventral spines, and probing all say so. and the other is a make for sure. I guess wait and see if eggs result, and hopefully if they do i can try incubating them, if its viable

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Originally Posted by DannyHog

trust me, its a girl. Tail shape, ventral spines, and probing all say so. and the other is a make for sure. I guess wait and see if eggs result, and hopefully if they do i can try incubating them, if its viable

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Just so you know...tail shape and spurs are not reliable indicators of gender.

There's no such thing as "breeding conditions". There are certain things that can be done if youre trying to get them to pair up, but if you house a pair together eventually they will copulate.
If there was such a thing as "breeding conditions" for humans, i wouldnt have a chance...LOL

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Originally Posted by KatStoverReptiles

Just so you know...tail shape and spurs are not reliable indicators of gender.

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true but it does reinforce the signs I got by the probe method.

http://ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html
Things to look for if she is gravid. Kind of a beginners picture guide

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Originally Posted by DannyHog

I have two ball pythons that have been housed together for years, a male and a female..........what may have happened to cause them to start breeding?

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Ever see the movie The Blue Lagoon? Nature will always take it's course.

honestly im smacking myself for not seeing this coming, but if it turns out she's gravid it might be nice to raise the eggs if they are fertile, and I shouldn't have a problem finding homes for the hatchlings, but lets not count our pythons before they hatch.

I was just curious, your signature says you have 3 ball pythons. Why did you house 2 together and 1 separately?

There are a number of things that can go wrong if you house multiple BPs together. The only real time to put 2 BPs together is for breeding.

Either way, I wish you luck!

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Originally Posted by DannyHog

true but it does reinforce the signs I got by the probe method.

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Probing or popping is all you need in BPs because the other methods don't help with this species. I have females who's tails look like males and have huge spurs and males with short tails and almost no spurs. In other species it can be determined fairly easily by looking, but not BPs :)

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I was just curious, your signature says you have 3 ball pythons. Why did you house 2 together and 1 separately?

There are a number of things that can go wrong if you house multiple BPs together. The only real time to put 2 BPs together is for breeding.

Either way, I wish you luck!

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The two together had been together for years and Im not sure why I never thought to separate them, the third was given to me by a good friend and mentor when he was leaving the area and couldn't take him along.

Actually, if they did lock, you could be looking at eggs in as little as 8 weeks.