Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is there any site or person in here that can give me a quick crash course in breeding boas? ive been to the boaphile site and read his techniques but for a newbie like me i couldnt really understand it all. im basically just looking for "do this at this time then do that and when this is done introduce the male to the female and wait this long before removing the male". yeah i know its a lot more technical and complex than that but you know what im meaning. snakes in question are two bci each one has uth warm side mid 80's low side low 80's room temp is usually high 70's low 80's. is cooling required? do i just unplug the female's uth and just let her assume the room temp? if that is the case do i need to drop the temp of the room/apt? do i need to have a timer set to a overhead light to give her/him the correct lighting schedule or is lighting an important factor? would enjoy getting advice and answers to these questions whether in part or full because im really wanting to be able to breed my boas this winter. thanks.

Make sure they're the right size/age and in EXCELLENT HEALTH.

Feed them.

Water them.

Clean them.

Have them in a proper cage with a warm end and cool end. The boas will decide if they want to be warmer or cooler. Pay attention to your boas to see what temps works best for them.

During the cooler months "put them together".

The snakes know how to do the rest.

Eventually, if all goes well, the female will ovulate.

She'll look like she swallowed a football.

The male will lose interest.

At this point remove the male.

After ovulation the female will shed.

Write shed date on a calender and count 105 days from that date for a "due date".

Hopefully you'll have a nice litter.

BTW There is no "easy explaination". Different things work for different people. If it was easy to breed boas EVERYONE would be doing it.

Sunrise: Lights go on. Sunset: Lights go off.

In the summer days get longer. Towards the winter days get shorter. Give them the proper amount of day time and night time.

Most important!!! Have fun and enjoy your boas. Breeding is fun, but it doesn't always happen.

NP
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow
0.1 Poss. Het Albino

It'll be our first year breeding boas, we were planning on taking them off feed for a couple weeks before introduction since thats what all my research has told us to do. But then I hear of people who don't stop feed and do fine too. Was just curious... seems everyone has their own way, even very differing ones and are still for the most part successful! I guess the only way to figure it out is play around with it and see what works best. Anyone have any opinions on whether or not its better to take them off or leave them on?
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow
0.1 Poss. Het Albino

OK, this may get to be a bit long winded, but it's hard to give a short answer.

Feeding boas while breeding. Do we or don't we. LOL.

It seems to me that it's the male boas that will stop eating on their own. Males seldom want to be fed, because they've only got one thing on their little boa minds during breeding season. That would be "breeding".

Females can be different. Sometimes they'll go off feed and sometimes they won't. I just don't think the we, humans, should be telling them if they're hungry or not. After all, who's the boa. LOL. I think that if a female is hungry and she's acting hungry she's less likely to have breeding and making those cute little boas we all love so much, on her mind. I think if a female boa is hungry she's more likely to be cruzing the cage hoping for a meal. Don't worry. Even if you don't feed your females chances are they won't be looking at that male as a potential meal. Of course, she may be looking at him as a source of irratation. She may slap her tail around and try to discourage any advances he might want to make. The end result could be, lots of work on the males part and none on the females part. Remember it's the female that needs to ovulate. Give her what she wants and she might just reward you with a nice litter of those cute little boas. If all she wants is a little food here and there... Then that's not too much to ask. Of course, you must remember. It is breeding season and all feeding should be done in "moderation". HUGE meals are out. You want them to be satified, but not GORGED with food.

So, Ya. I feed my females. I figure they know more about what they want/need than I do. In the wild boas are opportunistic(spelling??) feeders. Who's to say that if a nice meal crossed their path they wouldn't eat it. I guess they could stop and think, "wait this is breeding season and I shouldn't eat that", but I'm guessing they wouldn't.

Anyway that's my opinion. It could be right and it could be wrong. Either way it's the way I choose to do things.

thanks for your thoughts. Although I almost doubt that our male would prefer mating over food lol.
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow
0.1 Poss. Het Albino