Well, normally boas will start mating in September, all the way through January (the days getting shorter and a little cooler can trigger them to start mating). There is no specific time of day. However, some boas, especially if housed together all year round, might not follow that schedule and CAN mate at any time. The male would be near the female or riding her around (as part of courting) if he was interested... but I've heard that long term cagemates may not show interest in mating (since they're so used to being "roomies". I have recently put my two hogs together, and at first the male didn't seem that interested. Another person on one of the forums told me to take the male out for a few days and put him back in with the female - and he started following the female around. I haven't seen any mating yet, but courting can take weeks or even months before any mating occurs. He is acting interested though, after being separated for a few days.

So with your new arrivals, it might be hard to tell. If you can, try to house them separately for a few days, and put the male back in with the female. If he still doesn't act interested, take him out again for a couple of weeks. Try once again - if still nothing, separate again and try again a few weeks later.... Also keep watch on the female and see if she changes in size, gets lumpy, or sheds and gets darker after the shed. I wouldn't leave him in the cage with the female permanently if she IS pregnant, because the female needs to be able to get the best cage spot (so she can be at the perfect temperature to not stress the growing babies), and having to compete with a male for the best spot in the cage might not be good.

Boas typically give birth about 105 days after they shed (the shed occurs right after ovulation and is called the post-ovulation shed), so if 3 1/2 months or a bit more passes and she doesn't have babies, she probably was never pregnant or the pregnancy didn't take. Before that, though, if she is pregnant, you should notice the back half of her body getting fatter, and her neck looking a bit skinnier as her body resources go towards growing her litter. Bear in mind that this is all from what I have read in many places, I'm a first time breeder myself this fall (I've been reading up for YEARS in preparation though, while my boas grew up).

I think further along in pregnancy, you COULD take her to a vet and get an xray or ultrasound to see if she's pregnant, but moving and handling a pregnant female isn't good, nor would that be cheap! Wouldn't it be great if they had a boa pregnancy test?
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Lauren Madar
www.ophidiagems.com
1.1 Hog Island Boas
1.1 Hypo BCI
0.1 Sorong-type GTP
1.0 Normal Ball Python
1.1 Surinam BCC

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