I'm new to this site. I have 2 ball pythons: Calvin (the girl) is 10 and Darby (the boy) is about 8. They've been living together for about 7 years and I have hoped for a long time to breed them. But 7 years later, nothing's ever happened, and a couple of years ago I kind of gave up hope.

But about 10 minutes ago, I walked into my office and there they are, stretched out in a fairly classic (from the pics I can find) breeding position, clearly locked together. Darby's currently stroking his head across the top of hers.

Now, my big question: do I feed them tonight as planned? How do I proceed here? My books on this stuff are all locked away because - as I said - I'd kinda figured it would never happen.

And does anyone have any ideas on what might have prompted this after so long? I have a bizarre suggestion I want to throw out there - my female chihuahua is in heat - could her pheremones have prompted this?

And, where do I go from here? How often will they breed during this period? how will I know when she's got a clutch? Signs to watch for?

PS - She did refuse feeding 10 days ago. Not sure if that has much to do with it.