Should I breed my pythons?

[Corey_B]

I'm an experienced reptile keeper and a biologist, but this will be my first shot at actually breeding reptiles. I have three new snakes being shipped up to me next week. Two are normal females that weigh 1500g and 1900g, and one is a male Pewter Bee that weighs 700g. The females are proven breeders and the male is producing sperm plugs. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and introduce the male to the females after they've had a week to acclimate and get their first meal. I know it's late in the breeding season, but I've had friends tell me that some females don't ovulate until mid-April. I don't see any harm in introducing the male to the girls and hoping for the best, but my snakes' safety is my main concern, and I'd sooner wait for the next breeding season than risk any of their welfare. Any opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Pythonfriend]

i see no reason why not.

some breeders keep temperature constant throughout the year and have different breeding groups on different breeding cycles so that they produce year-round. like, every 4 months a third of the BPs restart their annual cycle, or some pattern like that.

[PitOnTheProwl]

If they are all coming from the same breeder then I don't see a problem.
IF they are from different people...................... they really should be QTed separately.

[Corey_B]

If they are all coming from the same breeder then I don't see a problem.
IF they are from different people...................... they really should be QTed separately.

No, they're all from the same breeder.

[brock lesser]

No problem with breeding them,
might give them more than a week to get used to their new setup though.
Before you pair them, do you have the equipment, incubator, baby rack,
constant food source for rats and mice and some idea of where you will sell the offspring.
Plan for anything and you will be prepared for most of it.
Good luck!

[bcr229]

Given the ten-day weather forecast you may not have anything shipped up next week. I'm watching mine b/c I'm also waiting for a snake to be shipped in, and it looks like Ol' Man Winter is going to come back with a vengeance.

I would still wait 90 days before pairing them, as sometimes shipping stress can cause a problem to crop up. If the snakes are from the same breeder you could probably QT them together safely, unless it's one of the really big operations where they may have separate facilities housing their animals.

[Corey_B]

No problem with breeding them,
might give them more than a week to get used to their new setup though.
Before you pair them, do you have the equipment, incubator, baby rack,
constant food source for rats and mice and some idea of where you will sell the offspring.
Plan for anything and you will be prepared for most of it.
Good luck!

I do have a baby rack and constant food source. I can have an incubator delivered in 2 business days. I will order it as soon as I notice a female is gravid, and should have it in hand well before the eggs are laid. As for selling the offspring, I have a few places I can sell them, and have the capacity to keep them as long as necessary until they are sold.

[Corey_B]

Given the ten-day weather forecast you may not have anything shipped up next week. I'm watching mine b/c I'm also waiting for a snake to be shipped in, and it looks like Ol' Man Winter is going to come back with a vengeance.

I would still wait 90 days before pairing them, as sometimes shipping stress can cause a problem to crop up. If the snakes are from the same breeder you could probably QT them together safely, unless it's one of the really big operations where they may have separate facilities housing their animals.

I'm keeping an eye on the weather too. As of right now, it's looking like the Gulf Stream will be keeping my area around the low 40's for the middle of next week. If the temperatures are expected to drop below 40, I'll have the breeder hang on to the snakes until such a time as the weather is more accommodating.

The breeder has a pretty modest operation, and told me that the snakes I've purchased are all in the same set of racks. I was planning on keeping them separate from the snakes I already have for a couple months, but saw no reason to keep them away from each other as well. Shipping stress is a new one for me though. What sort of issues can come of that? I'd thought that if the animals arrived uninjured and took their first couple meals without any trouble, that they'd be set except for the quarantine.

[Corey_B]

On the subject of quarantine, I should also add that I'm a year from my bachelors in microbiology, and have a high-powered microscope at my house. I can, within a week or so, rule out most intestinal parasites, fungal infections, or mites of the skin. I still keep the animals quarantined for about 60 days to rule out viral or bacterial infections, but I'm making some additions to my home lab over the summer that will allow me to do a bacterial work-up on all of my animals as well.

[Archimedes]

I would personally suggest having the incubator on hand before any of your females are gravid. I would be crazy-anxious if I ended up without an incubator 5 weeks before lay. But I have a history of overpreparedness, so if you feel that you'll have enough time to set up an incubator and have it running flawlessly by the time the eggs are laid, I see no problem with it.

1500g is the bare minimum for a breeder female though. If they have a clutch or two under their belts it probably doesn't matter, but I'm gonna be waiting til my girls are plump at 1700 before breeding them. You'll want to look at body condition before pairing your snakes, 1500 can look very different on two different snakes. If one is long and lanky at 1500 and the other is short and stout, I'd be breeding the stout one first and getting the longer girl a few more meals before attempting a pair.