bred too young...

[frostysBP]

Clearly you made a mistake????u were still insisting that they did love to be with each other......and welcome to a public forum...all you can do is hope nothing happens....and you would not be in this situation if YOU didnt insist that they love each other and that they were best friends. Odds are she wont take and nothing will happen....cross your fingers and find a book to read up on husbandry and basic care for ball pythons...

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[robin.worden.65]

Oh wow...I am new to BP's as well...but I have been researching their care for well over a year before I bought my first ...just general reptiles knowledge... They do not want or need any "friends" .Why would you put 2 snakes together with all the possible disasters that could happen. These animals are not like a dog or cat. You absolutely have to do your research...yes this is a forum where people do know what they are talking about...but everyone of them did their research...so no...your not going to come ask a question after you obviously ignored previous advice to not put two snakes together and get all your questions answered without doing an ounce of work. If you can't even manage a small amount of research to benefit you snakes then maybe you shouldn't have snakes

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[wolfy-hound]

There's nothing you CAN do now that the damage is done.

Either she will ovulate and produce eggs, lay and you'll deal with eggs and a depleted small female....
Or she will not ovulate now, but may still ovulate at a later time, still undersized, lay eggs and you'll deal with eggs and a slightly less depleted female...
Or she will not ovulate until far later in life when she is of proper size, lay eggs and be fine....
Or she will ovulate, try to produce eggs and die...
Or she will ovulate, produce eggs, become egg bound and either require vet surgery or die...

So you see, "hoping she holds onto the sperm" is hoping that she does NOT ovulate, but just sits on that sperm and waits until she's big enough to lay healthy eggs without depleting herself, becoming eggbound, or dying.

There is no "I hope she doesn't breed" because you housed them together deliberately and caused this accidental breeding. It's a done deal. Even if she doesn't become gravid NOW, it's still a major risk for your snake up and until the snake is of a healthy size to be able to lay. Until she is that big, she could suddenly ovulate and try to produce at any given time, causing major issues.

It wasn't an accident that you chose to house them together, ignoring all the advice given. The accident was only in the missexing, which is one reason why people don't want snakes housed together, especially by inexperienced keepers.

Missexing can happen to anyone. I have a big fat male mojave here who has been labeled a female for THREE YEARS by me. I've successfully bred pythons, bred monitors, geckos, etc etc. And I still missexed the python. It happens. But I don't have "accidental breedings" because I still don't house snakes together. Even when I *think* they're both girls. Even if I *thought* they needed a snakey bestie. There's a hundred reasons NOT to co-house ball pythons and ZERO reasons to do it.

Hopefully at this point, you'll realize a few mistakes and learn and become a great keeper in the future who can enjoy the animals and introduce many new people to the joy of owning snakes.

[Ax01]

hi, i'm sorry to pile on, i know u probably feel bad. it's ok to make a mistake but u gotta learn from it. listen to the advice/feedback of the longtime keepers and breeders here. hear them out. ^ wolfy-hound laid out all possible scenarios above. prepare yourself for all of it.

also i posted this last week in the 5 things u need to know about BP's thread u created.

1. each BP should be housed separately.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-ball-pythons

yep, like others have said. separate them. only co-habitat/pair them to bred.

good luck. keep us posted.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Well no one has a crystal ball to predict the future so you will have to wait and see what happens, my guess is that nothing will come out of it.

[MarkS]

why would I want her to hold on to his sperm?

I'd love answer your question but I'm too busy spraying coffee out of my nose. Thank you for brightening my day.

[Ax01]

why would I want her to hold on to his sperm?

I'd love answer your question but I'm too busy spraying coffee out of my nose. Thank you for brightening my day.

don't forget this one.

Balls can hold onto sperm for quite a while...

LMAO!!

[MarkS]

There's nothing you CAN do now that the damage is done.

Either she will ovulate and produce eggs, lay and you'll deal with eggs and a depleted small female....
Or she will not ovulate now, but may still ovulate at a later time, still undersized, lay eggs and you'll deal with eggs and a slightly less depleted female...
Or she will not ovulate until far later in life when she is of proper size, lay eggs and be fine....
Or she will ovulate, try to produce eggs and die...
Or she will ovulate, produce eggs, become egg bound and either require vet surgery or die...

There is one other possiblilty that comes to mind.

BOTH snakes were mis-sexed and are actually both male. I've seen male snakes copulate with other male snakes before. I believe that they do it as a show of dominance.

[SmoothScales]

don't forget this one.



LMAO!!

Well! Remind me to consider my wording a little better next time.

Seriously though, can't they hold it for up to 2 years?

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[maudie]

thanks to those of you that gave information, I appreciate it. I'll definitely be doing some more thorough research on ball python husbandry and such. all three are separated now and will stay that way. although I don't agree with those of you that said I should not be keeping snakes at all because of this; I care incredibly for my three ball pythons and spend a lot of time insuring that they're happy and healthy. I'm distraught over this as it is my first serious mistake since I started keeping snakes. but I will absolutely do everything in my power to make it right for them. thanks again to those of you that took the time to give me information and advice, as well as explain all this to me.