First Attempt At Breeding Underway!

Well... After much consideration and waiting I have decided to go ahead and put my Mojave boy (5 or 6 year old proven) in with my Lesser girl (3 year old virgin) today. The Mojave boy has been eating like a champ and weighed in today at around 2,400 grams. The Lesser girl has been on a hunger strike for about 2 months, but she still weighed in today at around 1,800 grams. I really wanted to get at least a couple good feedings in her before I put them together, but a breeder I spoke with at a reptile expo this past Sunday told me I should go ahead and put him in with her. She has been very active and hanging around the front of her tub a lot like she's looking for something a lot ever since she has been on her hunger strike and I have seen her wrapping her water dish as well. So, I have a feeling that she has reached that point of sexual maturity i've read about, where they stop eating and is ready to breed and maybe that's why she hasn't been eating? What do you guys think? I have been trying to palpate her for follicles periodically, but I can't say for certain one way or the other if she has follicles. Sometimes I could swear I feel them, but on the next pass I don't. I'm a nOOb... lol So, i'm just going to let nature take it's course and see what happens. With some luck, maybe i'll have some BELs within a few months... :)

How long would you guys recommend leaving him in with her before giving them a break?

I do 3 days together unless I see a lock. Then separate. She will need to be paired once a month if you see a lock twice if you don't. And 2400g is a very big male. Hopefully he locks for you

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Originally Posted by StillBP

I do 3 days together unless I see a lock. Then separate. She will need to be paired once a month if you see a lock twice if you don't. And 2400g is a very big male. Hopefully he locks for you

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Thanks, StillBP. Yes, he is a big old man... lol I've never measured him, but he is easily up around 6'... I'm just hoping he is still as horny as I am at my old age! lol He has been very active and hanging around the front of his tub a lot, too. So, I am hopeful. I'm picking up a 2015 850 gram Mystic girl tonight that i'll have to finish growing up for him. So, I also hope he still has lots of stamina (like me) as well! lol

Man and I thought my jigsaw was big. He's 1800g. I try to keep my males around the 1000-1200g range

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Here are some photos I took of him a couple of months (and several feedings) ago:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ighlight=edger

I guess 6' was exaggerating a bit. But, he is definitely 5 + feet.

Here are some photos of the Lesser girl:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ighlight=cindy

On the norm, how long does it usually take these guys to lock if they're going to? I haven't noticed him courting her or anything yet. Today they are sitting at opposite ends of the tub so far. They seem to be not speaking to each other... lol

He is nice. And just to correct a comment made in that older thread there are now 4 shows in the Pittsburgh area not 3. I host a show in Indiana PA maybe you should stop by and say hello. We are having a show 8/26

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

On the norm, how long does it usually take these guys to lock if they're going to? I haven't noticed him courting her or anything yet. Today they are sitting at opposite ends of the tub so far. They seem to be not speaking to each other... lol

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It can be fast or not at all
Since this is your only pair after 3 days with no lock take him out and give him a full 14 days rest. Then back in. He will eventually lock.

Oh, wow... I just now noticed that you are in Pittsburgh, too! Very cool! We'll have to get together and show each other our collections one of these days... :)

I finally witnessed these two locked up last night. They aren't still locked up today, so should I take the male out for a few days again or leave him in with her?

Anybody?

Once you've seen them lock and then separate, you can remove the male. I usually reintroduce the male once a month until ovulation.

Good luck with this new endeavor!!

Seems like yesterday when I decided to finally breed my Balls. And now I have 12 hatchlings in the rack and another 4 eggs in the incubator.
It was quite the ride :)

When your animals are ready, they will do the deed. Just keep trying every so often. I find the females get quite excited when they are ready and willing and you introduce the male into the enclosure. My females would cruise while wagging their tail (more like banging it around) and what male can say no to that...LOL

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Originally Posted by treaux

Once you've seen them lock and then separate, you can remove the male. I usually reintroduce the male once a month until ovulation.

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Thanks! :)

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Originally Posted by zina10

Good luck with this new endeavor!!

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Originally Posted by zina10

Seems like yesterday when I decided to finally breed my Balls. And now I have 12 hatchlings in the rack and another 4 eggs in the incubator.
It was quite the ride :)

When your animals are ready, they will do the deed. Just keep trying every so often. I find the females get quite excited when they are ready and willing and you introduce the male into the enclosure. My females would cruise while wagging their tail (more like banging it around) and what male can say no to that...LOL

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Thanks, Zina! I'm very happy to see that you are having lots of success with breeding! I will have babies starting to pop out left and right over the next couple of years. I am excited to finally have my first pair breeding, but honestly, i'm a little concerned about this female. She has been on a hunger strike for over 3 months and she has dropped from 1,800 grams down to 1,200 grams. I have had a couple breeders tell me that I should go ahead and breed her and that breeding can trigger females to start eating again sometimes, so I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Do any of you have any thoughts you would like to share about that? On feeding days she has been very active lately when I try to feed her (literally trying to get out of her tub), but she doesn't want anything to do with the rats. I have been putting her boyfriend in with her for 3 days at a time then removing him for about 14 days then putting him back in and I have been leaving his recent shed in the tub with her...

I know snakes are pretty phreaky, but myself, i'm very weary of girls, who go banging their tails around! LOL! :P

I usually put the male in for three days. If the male locks, than I check the next day and I take him out and give him a rest and feed him and the female. During breeding season, the female will usually go for food like a mad snake. I have had snakes where they wouldn't eat and once they start breeding or introduced to a male, they start eating again. Its actually a trick for female snakes that go off food at times if at the right weight.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Thanks! :)



Thanks, Zina! I'm very happy to see that you are having lots of success with breeding! I will have babies starting to pop out left and right over the next couple of years. I am excited to finally have my first pair breeding, but honestly, i'm a little concerned about this female. She has been on a hunger strike for over 3 months and she has dropped from 1,800 grams down to 1,200 grams. I have had a couple breeders tell me that I should go ahead and breed her and that breeding can trigger females to start eating again sometimes, so I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Do any of you have any thoughts you would like to share about that? On feeding days she has been very active lately when I try to feed her (literally trying to get out of her tub), but she doesn't want anything to do with the rats. I have been putting her boyfriend in with her for 3 days at a time then removing him for about 14 days then putting him back in and I have been leaving his recent shed in the tub with her...

I know snakes are pretty phreaky, but myself, i'm very weary of girls, who go banging their tails around! LOL! :P

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Hm...
I don't want to alarm you, but that seems like quite the steep weight loss for being on a 3 month strike. I've had snakes being on a longer strike then this and barely loosing any weight at all. Certainly not a third of their weight.

It is true, that pairing can make some females EAT like no tomorrow. At least until ovulation, all mine quit eating a couple of weeks before ovulation.

I guess I would want to make sure this female is 100% healthy before breeding. 1200 gr. is a bit on the low side for breeding. Esp. with how quickly she is loosing weight.

Does everything else appear A-OK with this female? Have you gotten new snakes that may have introduced some internal parasites or something (far fetched, but back when I had rescues I've seen fast weight loss with internal yuckies, such as "Giardia" and/or worms)

Have you tried different feeders? Different sized feeders? Perhaps "pre killed" rather then frozen/thawed?

Most likely she is ok, just on a strike. But if she doesn't eat soon, I would start "digging" for reasons and trying different methods, etc, if you haven't yet. And if she continues not to eat and continues to actually loose weight, I would put a stop on breeding until this is resolved.

But those are just my thoughts, you are there and you know you snakes, follow your gut feelings :)

Thank you for your concern, Zina. I really appreciate it. I have been concerned about her as well. I actually feel a little better now, though. I just weighed her again and she actually weighs 1,661 grams. I remember when I got that 1,200 gram reading I had been trying to balance a tub on top of the scale, because she is too big to fit in the bowl that came with my scale and she was moving around all over the place and making it teeter totter on the scale. So, that was a false reading, thankfully! On 5/20/17 she weighed 1.805 grams and she has actually been on a hunger strike since somewhere around May 1st. So, she has actually been on a hunger strike for going on 5 months. My apologies for my previous misinformation. I had a hard drive crash a couple of months ago with all of my most recent snake records on it (at the time), which I didn't have backed up. Grrr! :mad: So, I just went back through some of my posts here on the forum to fill in some of the blanks...

I had purchased this Lesser girl from a local breeder on Craigslist, who was getting out of the hobby. All the guy could tell me was he was pretty sure she is a 2013 and that he was certain that she was a virgin. It is my understanding that when female Balls become sexually mature they will go on extended hunger strikes for months at a time. My feelings have been that could be what is going on with this girl. What do you think? She looks and acts perfectly healthy, she just doesn't want anything to do with eating. She even still feels nice and thick and fat... She mostly takes flight when i'm trying to feed her and sometimes she will let out defensive hisses and has even struck and bitten the rats a few times. Monday (yesterday) was feeding day and her and her boyfriend both refused food. At this very moment both of them are very active and cruising the front of their tubs, looking up and acting like they want out. I feel like they both have phreaky snake sex on their minds and are wanting to get at each other. I just pulled the male back out of her tub on Sunday after having him in with her for 4 days and witnessing a lock. Honestly, i'm wondering if I should just put him right back in with her. What do you think?

When I first got these two, I had been feeding them 1 large rat every 14 days then I decided to switch them to 1 medium rat every 7 days (the girl's hunger strike had begun before that), because I felt like large was too big for them. Since she has been on her hunger strike I have tried feeding her large, medium and small rats. I'm not a fan of feeding live prey, but i'm reluctantly going to try feeding her a live medium next week and see if that will spark her urge to start eating again.

Whew, that sounds A LOT better !!!

As a matter of fact, that kind of weight loss wouldn't concern me much at all :)

Of course you still want to get to the bottom of it. IF you hadn't actually observed a "lock" I would say make sure she is a she and not a he. LOL
Sounds a lot like a male breeding season hunger strike. That said...my pudgy male kept eating right up until he got paired a few times. And he has gotten back to being pudgy withing a couple weeks of breeding. But he is weird.

With the live feeding, you might want to go a bit smaller in food size. I know a small rat can bite almost as well as a medium, but still...
With the rescues many years ago, I had to actually resort to "fresh killed" a few times. They were difficult to switch from live, and that is what it took for a few feedings. Not my favorite thing to do, though, however if done right, the rat actually suffers less then when given to the snake live.

I would continue to pair them, try one more time and see how fast they will lock. After that, I would give them a break though, so you can get creative in getting the female to eat something ;)

Breeding BP (even owning them) can be so much fun, so exciting and just a little bit frustrating. Its all part of the mix ;)