First time breeding. attempt.

[Godzilla78]

Ok, so I have had a ball python for a couple years and I am a science nerd, so I have done hours and hours of research about husbandry, feeding, genetics and such for the past couple of years. I love these critters so much and I have recently acquired some beautiful morphs and decided to breed some.

My longterm plan is to Breed a KILLER PIED (super pastel piebald) male to a PIEBALD female, and get a whole clutch of nothing but pastel piebalds! But that is longterm, as both of these snakes are still juveniles and have a couple years before they are ready. In the meantime I want to practice producing a clutch. My first snake was RAGANAROK, a male normal. He is super tame and friendly, even with children. I've had him since ehe was small, got him late 2015. He is 55 inches long, and healthy weight. At first, I was never going to breed him, as I would practically have to give away any normal hatchlings, as there is not much of a market for normals.

On second thought, I recently acquired a 2700 gram female ARAZA morph and I want to prove her araza genetics through breeding. Ragnarok is the only breeding age male I have and he is horny and ready to go! I figure heck, I will start my first breeding as a trial run, to practice, and I can always donate the hatchlings to loving homes, even if they don't hold much monetary value. This way, I will be experienced and ready when it is time to breed over a thousand dollars worth of snakes to eachother to produce a precious marketable clutch.

Anyway, to start with, I have all my snakes in a rack system, and I have a very carefully prepared 40 gallon glass terrarium that I customized over years with heating pads, infrared UTH, thermostat controllers and even metallic bubble wrap insulation and a low-ventilation cover over the screen-top to control humidity! Whoever said GLASS is a way more work to get the heat and humidity right was SPOT ON! It is way more work, space and money to set up a glass terrarium, which is why I immediately switched to a rack system once I acquired multiple snakes. However, there is nothing wrong with glass tank, they are perfectly good as long as you are willing to spend the extra time and money to customize the environment. So with the new rack system being the new snake home, I am using the glass tank as the HONEYMOON SUITE breeding tank.

So tonight I moved the female to the honeymoon suit, and after a couple of days of her acclimating to the new environment, I plan on introducing her to Ragnarok,, the horny male.

So here it goes! Any breeding tips would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise just sit back and enjoy this story of reptilian romance, love and family.

[the_rotten1]

That was originally my plan too, keep most of my snakes in a rack and breed them in a tank. But after doing a bit of breeding in a rack I've decided I like that better.

The first thing you need to know about breeding is that it's MESSY. When you put a breeding pair together one of the first things they will do is pee all over the place. There may also be poop and blood involved if you're particularly unlucky. I keep loose substrate in my terrarium and paper towels in my racks, so for the racks cleanup is simple. Just pull the paper towels, scrub everything, and line it with a fresh layer. I don't relish the thought of hunting through wood chips for all the messes a breeding pair would leave behind.

Whether or not your tank will make a good breeding enclosure also depends on how you've decorated it. My terrarium is home to my pied male, so it's customized to him. His hides are too small for larger females to fit. If I were to leave them in he'd probably hide in them and ignore the female. If I took them out it would leave them nowhere to breed but out in the open, or cramped underneath my wood decorations, unless I took them out as well. While I suppose it's possible that they might be able to lock in there, I don't think it's very likely to happen. They have a lot more space in my racks, and since the racks are enclosed they feel safer/more hidden too. It gives them the privacy they need to do their business.

I'm not saying "don't breed in your tank". You can if you want. But depending on how it's set up, you might face more challenges if you do.

[treaux]

If you already have a male killer pied, I'd wait until he is ready and breed him to your female. Male BPs can breed at fairly young ages. Many go by weight and maturity and will breed males if they are over 500 grams and producing sperm plugs. Then you will produce pastel/araza morphs that are het for pied and you can use them in future pied projects (or sell them easily).

I also have a male normal who was my first, but we just keep him for sentimental value. It's so much easier to get males with better genetics for breeding as it's the females who take much longer to be ready.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

My breeding tip is bad idea.

You want your female to stay put in her enclosure that she is used to and where her sent is, moving her to a secondary location for breeding purposes is not a good idea.

Keep your female in her tub and introduce the male.

Breeders with 10-20 years experience won't even move the female to a lower or higher level in a rack during breeding season , let alone to a completely different enclosure.

[Godzilla78]

thanks for the tips. I have decided to wait as treat said, I might as well wait for the killer pied, instead of breeding the normal male and ending up with a clutch I can't even sell.

I will take into consideration all the advice regarding breeding environment and continue studying. Thanks again!

[Godzilla78]

My breeding tip is bad idea.

You want your female to stay put in her enclosure that she is used to and where her sent is, moving her to a secondary location for breeding purposes is not a good idea.

Keep your female in her tub and introduce the male.

Breeders with 10-20 years experience won't even move the female to a lower or higher level in a rack during breeding season , let alone to a completely different enclosure.

That sounds good, except I keep the big female in a 55 quart tub, and with her water bowl and hide, I don't see how two big adults would be comfortable in there? Maybe I'm over-estimating how cramped they would be in a 55 quart tub.

[Insane]

That sounds good, except I keep the big female in a 55 quart tub, and with her water bowl and hide, I don't see how two big adults would be comfortable in there? Maybe I'm over-estimating how cramped they would be in a 55 quart tub.

As a first time breeder myself with 1 clutch hatched and 1 in the incubator, I won't pretend to know what the best method will be. All I can do is give you my own personal experience. My females are in a 60 qt tub and when I introduce the male I take the hides out. This is more so I can monitor locks without having to interrupt them by pulling out their tub/lifting hides. It didn't slow my bps down, I had locks within the first 24 hours on all 3 of my first time females/males. I keep my rack in an area that has minimal traffic and try to keep minimal light in from the window (easier in winter when you only have 6-4 hours of daylight). So that might be also play a factor in my experience.

Best of luck! I guess the advice I would give is don't lose hope. I stopped pairing after about 5 months because I was not able to see any follicle growth/ovulation. I stopped checking for eggs because I thought there was something wrong with my set up or the Alaska weather was throwing them off (just moved them up from Florida). I ended up getting an 8 egg clutch from my GHI 4 months after her last pairing and a 5 egg clutch 5.5 months from my Albino Clown's last pairing. I ended up losing 2 eggs from each clutch because I was not looking for eggs from them (assuming they had reabsorbed or were not producing follicles at all) so the eggs weren't put in the incubator immediately. Either the eggs weren't fertile or the switch from tub to incubator were too much.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

That sounds good, except I keep the big female in a 55 quart tub, and with her water bowl and hide, I don't see how two big adults would be comfortable in there? Maybe I'm over-estimating how cramped they would be in a 55 quart tub.

Breeding is not about space, in the contrary, it's about the animals being close to one another, very close.

Breeders will typically breed their animals in 32 and 41 quarts tubs and again they do not move their females especially during breeding season.

I breed females under 2000 grams in 32 quarts and females over 2000 grams and up to 4000 grams in 41 quarts and have done so for over a decade, so trust me you have more than enough space in a 55 quarts tub.

[Godzilla78]

Well, I changed my mind, and decided to breed my male normal to my female Araza. It seems I have the only Araza on the entire internet, save for the first one credited to John Berry. I am obsessed with her, and I simply must prove this Dinkier, she is my favorite! Such a mesmerizing pattern, I want to see for sure that this is genetic dominate Araza, and breed her to my first and most friendly male normal.

(They are cuddling in her hide right now)

[Sunnieskys]

I would take a baby if they take. Just let me know. I will always take a normal. If that's what you get. Good luck!