Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently picked up 1.2 unicolor. 1.1 are almost 6 feet, the other female is just about 5. I asked if they had ever been bred, and the source said they were 'young animals' and thus no. Should I wait, and beef them up another year or two? Or is it safe to put them together, and hope for the best, having no experience with Drymarchon breeding first hand? Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Tom
ps. I also picked up an adult eastern indigo. I had her studded once last week, and copulation was succesful. How important is it to repeat this? Its pretty cold round here and an incovenience for the male to travel to meet her.

While the females would be capable of reproducing at this time, I would advise giving them another year or two, as they sound a bit young and breeding early may leave them prone to problems during oviposition. Also, breeding animals at a young age can significantly shorten their reproductive years. I have said it time and again, Drys require a high degree of patience, as they grow quickly, but are slow to mature, harbor long gestation periods, even longer incubnation periods and babies, especially unicolor and yellow-tail babies can take, what seems to be, an eternity to start feeding on their own. I believe females should be a minimum of three years of age, preferably four, and at least 6' with good mass prior to any breeding attempts, though I have no problem using males that are a minimum of two years of age and large enough to not appear as a snack for the female. ;0)
As for your female D. couperi, while many have incurred success with a single copulation, most breeders (self included), prefer to allow the pair to copulate as long and as often as they show interest and one highly successful breeder I know of feels he has better results when his females have copulated successfully a minimum of three times...

Best regards,

Jeff

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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947