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.