bred too young...

[maudie]

long story short, my 539 gram male normal and 589 gram female albino have been successfully locking tails. I made the mistake of putting them together, because I thought they were both female and they always got along, plus it was only temporary. of course they're now separated, but is this okay? I know the female was way too young...

[SmoothScales]

Aren't you the keeper that was completely convinced that your 'two females' got along great and it was okay to co-hab?


Magic 8-Ball Says - Outlook is grim. Or you could get lucky and she just hangs onto the sperm.

[Eric Alan]

At this point, there's no reason to worry if it's OK or not OK - it's done. Bottom line, she won't go if she's not ready to. Separate them, turn yourself into a sponge for information, dial in all aspects of their care, and enjoy the ride while you wait for them to grow up quite a bit.

[maudie]

yeah I am. except I clearly said that I believed them both to be females up until this point, and that was part of my confusion. and yeah, I was convinced that they lived together just fine, and I still am. temps were always fine, as well as heat, eating patterns, health aspects and their temperament. they didn't start locking until a couple days ago, so they did live fine together until that point and I had every reason to believe so. I don't think there's anything wrong with housing two same sized females together as long as they have plenty of space, are getting along and stay on feed. my mistake was not getting my normal properly sexed and obviously I took credit for that as I acted on them locking immediately, by separating them and taking them in to double check the next day, and then asking for advice on the forum.
why would I want her to hold on to his sperm?

[maudie]

okay, while that was a nice little speech, it's not what I asked. if you're not going to be helpful then there's really no point in wasting either of our time in commenting. clearly I made a stupid mistake, but I'm trying to get a better understanding of what exactly is going to happen now. I think there is plenty of reason to worry, because I want to know if I should take her in or something. posting this thread was me trying to get some advice or information on my mistake. I'm well aware of the breeding process, but know nothing about what happens when you breed a mere 500 gram female to a sexually mature male. If you'd be kind enough to explain to me more thoroughly what my situation now looks like, I'd love to listen.

[frostysBP]

Wow...dont listen to the the people who own snakes and breed them longer than you probably knew about them....talk to any good breeder and they will tell you the same thing....there are not termite mounds full of balls....and looking through your other post I pray you dont get a retic because you are no were near ready for that type of commitment.....please do you and your snakes a favor and research research research....not trying to be a d but its the truth take it or leave it...I can only lead the horse to water....I cant make it drink tho.

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[Eric Alan]

okay, while that was a nice little speech, it's not what I asked. if you're not going to be helpful then there's really no point in wasting either of our time in commenting. clearly I made a stupid mistake, but I'm trying to get a better understanding of what exactly is going to happen now. I think there is plenty of reason to worry, because I want to know if I should take her in or something. posting this thread was me trying to get some advice or information on my mistake. I'm well aware of the breeding process, but know nothing about what happens when you breed a mere 500 gram female to a sexually mature male. If you'd be kind enough to explain to me more thoroughly what my situation now looks like, I'd love to listen.

Are you referring to my advice?

[SmoothScales]

why would I want her to hold on to his sperm?

Balls can hold onto sperm for quite a while before laying fertilized eggs. At this point, with her size, I wouldn't want her to attempt a clutch and would hope for her not to ovulate but instead just hold onto the sperm.

[PhoenixGate]

It doesn't matter that you think it's ok to house two snakes together. It's really not. They get zero social fulfillment form it and it makes any issues you may have with one snake difficult to diagnose and treat because you'll never know exactly which snake has the problem.

As for advice, cross your fingers the female doesn't go through a full breeding cycle and die because she's too young. Start researching on exactly how ball pythons reproduce if you want to know what your female could possibly go through. Try googling to see if anyone has cared for and posted about a female that became gravid at a young age. If there's a chance she'll produce viable eggs, any chance at all, you might want to look a a diy incubator or buying one. If anyone has any specific data, stories or links as to what to do with an accidentally gravid young female snake, let's contribute that.

[Tash]

I am not experienced in this but I have debated breeding ball pythons in the future when I'm ready to take on the task. I've done a lot of reading and if I remember right I read somewhere that a female will likely not become gravid before the age of 2. Hopefully she hangs on the the sperm because I don't think her little body can handle the full breed cycle. I also read that small females are at a greater risk of egg binding where they cannot pass the egg which I thought was fatal. There is no undoing this so they are right. Hope that she hangs onto the sperm because the damage is done.

Also were you not worried about your ball pythons cannibalizing each other? It's rare but it's been known to happen to even the ones that were the same size and were, "like sisters". I wouldn't feel comfortable taking that risk... or the risk you took with thinking both of your snakes were females and now they have mated... that's just me though. Good luck, I hope your female will be ok.