Reptile & Amphibian Forums

since female brb's are capable of storing sperm (from what I read from Rainbow Boas and Neotropical Tree Boas), has anyone ever had a female produce with a male and then next time that you bred her you switched males and noticed that you had one or two babies that looked like the first father? I know most of you father with the same male time and time again. So another question for you breeders, do you only use one male or multiple quality males for sperm per female? Do ya'll cool separately or together (males with males and females with females) or do they get their own tub, cage, etc. Do ya'll cool in a separate room away from other snakes, and how do you achieve the 68-70 degree temps (window unit or basement). I want to have my adults (babies now) in cages but don't have the space to give each one his or her own at 4x2x2 or 3x2x2. Do ya'll just keep the room at like 75 and put 'em tubs or what? I like the naturalistic cage appearance like paulbuck but understand that keeping four adults together is for the experienced and you run into potential health issues. How easy would it be for me to keep two adults together (same sex) and how would I go about introducing them? I have nine brb's (only want to breed two females) and would like to get a couple more later but providing them the best environment for them is my job, so what are your thoughts about it? I let some of them play together for a little while and have no problems even though for it is only twenty minutes or so. Lots of hides and what other tips should I consider for later down the road.
Bob

I've had one case where a female BRB threw a clutch without being bred that year. I think it was in 1997. The female was bred to a male and produced babies in 1996. I wanted to give her the following year off and so I kept her isolated. To my disbelief, she dropped a small clutch anyway.

Since then, I've tried to stick to a pretty strict policy of only using one male per female so I know who the sire is.

I cool my animals separately. I've noticed that no real breeding takes place until after the temps have been brought up anyway.

I achieve my night time low temperatures by turning down the thermostats on the cages and opening up the snakeroom window. I don't heat or cool the room. i heat individual cages or racks of tubs.

I have kept as many as three large adults in a 6'x2' cage. They were together all year long and I fed them in the same enclosure (kind of risky, I know). I don't do that now. I tend to keep them separate. But, you're right, if the cage is big enough and there are several hide spots, you can keep animals together. Be very careful, or better yet, separate them during feeding time.

Males and females and females and females can be kept together no problem. I've kept males together but have also noticed some male-male aggression during the breeding season. No biting but shoving and positioning.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

were there any live ones or were they are all slugs? In the book it says -sexually mature females may ovulate and form INFERTILE egg masses whether or not a male is present.. conversely theses snakes are capable of sperm storage. I hope your females shed in a couple weeks so they can get busy for you and Jeff. Best of luck and thanks for everything, including the books ya'll suggested.
Bob

Bob,

As far as I know, all female snakes can develop and pass infertile ova in the absence of a male.

The 1997 clutch was small ( I think 5 animals) but contained live babies. This blew me a way because she had not been with a male that season. It's the only time this has happened and I kept no records on it. Truthfully, I don't even remember what female it was. I think it was the third clutch produced by my original Ross Het.

Were you able to pick up any of those books?
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

For Christmas I received Designer Morphs, Neotropical and Rainbow...., and Chris Mattison's book was sold out of the hardback book and they didn't tell me until the others arrived. I am still getting the book from my friends but I am going to find a copy of "The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas" by Ross and Marzec I believe. The Neo and Rain. was a great book with lots of pictures from every rainbow snake I could imagine. I never did care for CRB and ARB until I saw pictures in this book. The CRB from the breeding programs of Carl May on page 21 is breathtaking. The PRB might be the prettiest snake of all in my eyes. The Caatinga and Paraguayan rainbows on page 7 look very cool to me and I would like to own one some day, but I think I have a soft spot ever since I saw Jeff's (I think) female anery. Oh my gosh that was beautiful just like your hypos, any places I should look next season to find one or what. I haven't seen any advertised but would rather get one from a reputable breeder such as yourself, Jeff, Dave and so on. Thanks again for the books and have a good one.
Bob

Mike Designer Morphs is a great book that should be owned by all. I even found one of your neonate hypos in there. Ian G. from Outback Reptiles has a lot of pictures in there. I thought I would have seen more from Sharp but the Calico / Pied one is pretty cool being that is the only one in the world. Since it is wild caught and all, what are your thoughts about it being genetic even though this is the wrong forum but I'm looking for a yes or no. I think it is just a freak of nature (beautiful freak) but hope it is genetic because variety would be cool among the brazilians.
Bob

Bob,
...I breed mine differently than most people. I set them up with two females to a cage and during mating season have one male in each cage and rotate the males to the next cage of females every couple of days. I think the more times you can get a female bred and the more different males she is bred by the better the chances of getting her fertilized. My high numbers of slugs some years probably is proving me wrong on this. I do notice lots of variation within the same litter and have guessed that this may be due to multiple males fathering snakes from the same litter.
...I routinely keep either two large BRBs or three smaller ones together in a cage. I do watch to see if one snake spends too much time outside the hides because it is being stressed by the other snake or snakes. If I do notice this I move them around until I see what seems to be compatibility. If you put them with the raight cage mate they seem to never have problems and do well health wise. At the start of cooling the females continue to get along with each other but the males spend a lot of time shoving each other around and are real difficult about being put into smaller boxes for feeding or when cleaning their cages. Most of the year I can pile two of them into a small box to clean their cages and they are totally cooperative. At this time of year they are very tense and will loop parts of their body over the edge of any container I put them in. When the males are tussling with each other in the cages they often leave "samples" on the cage furnishings and in the water bowls. I will be introducing males into the female's cages in the next week or two.
Jeff

>>since female brb's are capable of storing sperm (from what I read from Rainbow Boas and Neotropical Tree Boas), has anyone ever had a female produce with a male and then next time that you bred her you switched males and noticed that you had one or two babies that looked like the first father? I know most of you father with the same male time and time again. So another question for you breeders, do you only use one male or multiple quality males for sperm per female? Do ya'll cool separately or together (males with males and females with females) or do they get their own tub, cage, etc. Do ya'll cool in a separate room away from other snakes, and how do you achieve the 68-70 degree temps (window unit or basement). I want to have my adults (babies now) in cages but don't have the space to give each one his or her own at 4x2x2 or 3x2x2. Do ya'll just keep the room at like 75 and put 'em tubs or what? I like the naturalistic cage appearance like paulbuck but understand that keeping four adults together is for the experienced and you run into potential health issues. How easy would it be for me to keep two adults together (same sex) and how would I go about introducing them? I have nine brb's (only want to breed two females) and would like to get a couple more later but providing them the best environment for them is my job, so what are your thoughts about it? I let some of them play together for a little while and have no problems even though for it is only twenty minutes or so. Lots of hides and what other tips should I consider for later down the road.
>>Bob