I'm Getting Excited!

[Jay_Bunny]

My female normal, Akina, is eating every 5 days and gaining weight. She is well over 1800g now. I have two possible mates for her this season, now. My pastel male has decided he doesn't want to eat. He has gone off feed for the past 3 weeks. He is around 330g. My het. pied male is an eating machine, and is about to hit 500g. My spider male has just decided to start eating, and has eaten the past two weeks, but he has not even hit 400g yet. I've heard the rock bottom minimum for breeding a male is 400g, ideal is 600+ or 800g. I don't think I'll be doing the cooling. Instead I'll be going along with the pressure. How soon do you think I should start introducing the pair? I plan on only breeding one male to her. Either Xefaud, my het pied, or my spider, Auxy. If I breed the het pied, then I get 50% possible het pieds, and I would keep all the females for future breeding.

So how does breeding according to the pressure work? I will be checking the weather every day from now on to watch for low pressure. What is considered low pressure. They list the current pressure on the weather report. Right now it is 30.04. Is this considered high or low? We have storms predicted for tomorrow.

How soon can I start putting the male in with the female. Should I wait till one of them is 600g?

[SatanicIntention]

I would figure out why you have babies that are refusing to eat, then worry about breeding..

Can't say I've ever heard of babies 300-600g not eating unless there were problems. They should be pounding food, regardless of if they are male or female.

If the female is dark, put the het Pied with her, if she's lighter/golden, put the Pastel with her(if the Pastel is actually decent looking and doesn't look like a light normal).

[monk90222]

I would figure out why you have babies that are refusing to eat, then worry about breeding..



.

I agree. Make sure everyone is on a good feeding schedule before you move ahead with your breeding plans.

[Wh00h0069]

You will want to make sure that your male and female are both healthy and eating before attempting to breed them.

I would feel much more safe breeding a small male, than a small female. I would say around 500 or 600 grams for a male should be fine.

I start my breeding around November, and stop around March.

Hope this helps.

[Jay_Bunny]

I actually think he stopped eating because I moved him to a different tub, higher in the rack. He was eating fine (pounding wean rats once a week, never fail) until I moved him into the other tub. I'm going to move him back down to his original tub this week and see if that changes anything. He is the only one not eating, and the only one that I moved.

[Wh00h0069]

I actually think he stopped eating because I moved him to a different tub, higher in the rack. He was eating fine (pounding wean rats once a week, never fail) until I moved him into the other tub. I'm going to move him back down to his original tub this week and see if that changes anything. He is the only one not eating, and the only one that I moved.

Thats possible. Many things can cause a ball python to go off food. If I were you, I would just leave him alone for about a week. That means no handling. lol That will kill you I'm sure.

He could also be in shed. Sometimes mine go off food for a few weeks while in shed.

Either way, hope this helps, and good luck with getting him to eat for you again, and eventually breeding.

[Jay_Bunny]

My het pied is the biggest of the the three males. He is nearing 500g and should be there next weigh in. I would like to breed him to Akina this season. I could possibly produce my own het pied females (I know there is only a small chance) and breed them back to him in a few years. Should I wait till he is around 600 and up?

With the pastel, I'm going to move him back to his original tub tonight and leave him alone for a week as advised and see if this helps. If I can get him to start eating, I have an '06 in his future (she is around 800g, so she has quite a while to go).

[Wh00h0069]

My het pied is the biggest of the the three males. He is nearing 500g and should be there next weigh in. I would like to breed him to Akina this season. I could possibly produce my own het pied females (I know there is only a small chance) and breed them back to him in a few years. Should I wait till he is around 600 and up?

With the pastel, I'm going to move him back to his original tub tonight and leave him alone for a week as advised and see if this helps. If I can get him to start eating, I have an '06 in his future (she is around 800g, so she has quite a while to go).

Honestly, I think that he would be fine. Most of my males kept eating most of the way through breeding season, so they put on some weight. I did feed them smaller meals though. My males were between 700 and 1000 grams last breeding season, and all did fine. If I were you, I would wait until this winters breeding season before putting them together. Most females start producing follicles during this season. If you put them together now, and she isn't producing any follicles, then she won't become gravid. I would wait until around November to introduce your male.

Good luck.

[Jay_Bunny]

How do they develop follicles? I know that cooling is supposed to simulate the cold season and they tend to breed after the cool season. What about people who breed year round? I also want to try breeding without cooling and go according to the pressure systems. So how do females begin developing follicles if they are not cooled?

[Wh00h0069]

How do they develop follicles? I know that cooling is supposed to simulate the cold season and they tend to breed after the cool season. What about people who breed year round? I also want to try breeding without cooling and go according to the pressure systems. So how do females begin developing follicles if they are not cooled?

From my understanding, they start producing follicles in the cooler months in Africa, so the winter time. In this time, there is a lot of precipitation. I have noticed that most of my snakes would lock up when it was snowing out. I have also heard this is true when it rains out. During this season, the females start producing follicles. Breeding also helps the female to produce and grow the follicles. Once the follicles are big enough, I don't know the exact size, they will ovulate. Then you just wait for babies.

Hope this helps.