Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I briefly paired my Ringed Pythons together today and the female brutally attacked the male. I separated them immediately after the 2nd attack. She bit and constricted him. No rodent scent around. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I fell in love with Ringed Pythons while volunteering in a zoo's herp dept over 10 years ago. I've worked hard raising this pair over the past several years. Plus, I have another 04 pair I'm raising as future breeders. Anyone who keeps Ringeds knows how messy they are (probably the messiest snakes in my collection). All the time spent cleaning and caring for them, I'm heartbroken to have their introduction to one another go so bad.

I know breeding is NOT as easy as putting two snakes together in a cage but I am discouraged by this incident. Any encouragement or advice is welcome.
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Sincerely, Jason
www.NortheastSnakes.com
NortheastSnakes@aol.com

Hi Carl

I´m no expert in breeding ringeds, actually this will be my first year attempting to breed them as well, I will introduce my pairs in a few days after they have shed. It have been difficult to find any info on them, but not so long a go Matt Turner posted a great post on morelia-pythons forum.
I think this is the info you are looking for.

Mark
Europe
Click here for more info

Hi Jason,
This will be my sixth year breeding ringeds, and I have had several instances similar to yours except it has always been the male doing the attacking. I think it is mostly a matter of individual personality, really. Fortunately I have a second male that is more interested in mating than attacking, so I have used him for most of my breeding attempts (he's better looking too, so it works out better anyway). My first year I did use the aggressive male because I felt the other was too small for breeding. I just kept introducing them (and breaking up the wrestling matches) until the male settled down. You might try alternating them singly between their repective cages for several days(without any cleaning) so they get used to the scent of each other.

Out of that first 2001 clutch, I held back one female which was bred for the first time this year. I decided I'd pair her with her dad (the aggressive male). This is the first time he was used for a breeding attempt since '01. He immediately grabbed her by the head and began constricting her, daughter or not. Because he is considerably larger than her it was difficult to separate them but eventually I managed. She is now gravid with a clutch sired by my friendlier male...

Good luck!
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Regards,
Bob Garby

I have been breeding rings for several years now and have had similar problems. What you are dealing with is not a breeding response but a aggressive feeding response. Everybody that has rings knows what they are like when hungry or even just touched! they are never full! The thing you need to do is get them used to physical contact without it actually being a food item or a breeding partner that is of eating size. Not sure what else you have but if you could put a much much larger type snake in the cage to get your aggressive ring used to the contact this would help! Also feed the animal a few days prior to the new animal introduction. I know house my rings in a trio group all year long and just separate them while feeding. They are a very food aggressive animal and will eat each other if given the opportunity. The hatchlings are worse once they start feeding and will most definitely eat each other. Hope it helps!