Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a 15 month old DH for Coral Sunglow Columbian male that is 2 foot 9 inches.

1) Is he old enough to breed?

2) If not would it be worth it to push him for late winter (January) breeding? I've heard the troubles in pushing males too quickly.

3) Keep feeding him slowly and wait until next fall/winter?

I've been feeding him a rat pup with a small mouse to top it off, about every 6 days. He's deficating normally and always seems hungry. By push I mean feed every 3-5 days.

Problem is that this would be a great time to pump up my females but they are refusing food and are ready for cooling NOW.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

In my opinion he is on the small side. You could always try him with a female in a few months and see what happens. My 15 month old males are alot bigger than yours and I am going to wait until next season with mine.

that were producing sperm plugs. One was a Western Costa Rican BCI, the other a 66% het Blood.

The 66% het Blood was only being fed a rat pup-weanling every 3 weeks at the time, the CR was being fed the same every two weeks. I judge each snake on their individual metabolism. Feeding a set regimen that is predetermined is not good for boas.

Your male will be ready when he is ready, feeding him more or less won't change that. Someone here used this analogy recently.

Feeding a young snake more food to reach breeding size, is like twinkie pounding a pre-teen.
Size doesn't determine if a snake can breed, maturity is reach by age in an animal that has had a healthy diet and grown at its own rate. That 12 month old male that was producig sperm plugs is going to be bred for the first time this year (if all goes well) at 30 months old, he is just over 4ft. and smaller around than a silver dollar. The other male has another year or so to wait.