Do you cool your breeders?

[BChambers]

And yet - in drier seasons (ie drought), many breeders (including Graziani on Reptile Radio) have reported a lower yield in females that actually go on to lay eggs. Those are seasons with very little barometric pressure changes. Ball pythons breed during the rainy season, the barometric pressure changes help to stimulate them to breed and produce. If it's too dry when eggs are laid, then eggs would die, and so they don't waste the energy to build and carry eggs that are not likely to survive (I'm referring to ball pythons in their natural environment, but they still behave similarly in captivity).

You misunderstand me-that has been my experience as well! Last year, which was a winter of record drought in this part of Texas, the number of copulations we had was cut in half here.

As I stated, barometric pressure is a powerful stimulant to copulation. But it is not sufficient by itself. Without pronounced temperature cycling, I daresay our results would have been dismal-as it was, we had a "decent" season, with more than half the clutches we got on the previous "good" year.

Also, it is my understanding (backed up by the Barker's book, Ross and Marzek, and other sources) that balls actually do their mating in the "cool dry" season-that way their eggs are timed to hatch in the wet season, when prey will be abundant.