Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking back on my sightings of BRB breeding and comparing to that of my boa constrictors. Is it just me or are the BRB's more of a "wham-bam-thank you ma'am" mating? I don't always see them locked up and even when I do see it, it's not long before thay've gone on their seperate ways. I've had babies from females that I never saw locked up. My BCI's have been courting and locked up for weeks and even months. To the point of looking to see if they're NOT locked up.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
13.24 BRB
12.14 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Interesting point, I have noticed the same thing with mine. There seems to be no where near the courting effort that BCI go through. I have seen my BRBs locked up or seperated, none of this crawling all over the female night and day. I have one BCI pair together right now that began courting late November and he still follows her all around the cage like he's just not getting the job done. I have seen alignment but nothing I'd call definate courtship. I guess it just means that BRB girls are easy and BCI need wined and dined more.
Milo

...I think Boa Constrictors are the reptile world's endurance champions at recreational sex. Rainbow Boas spend much less time courting and mating but, male Rainbow Boas are much better at getting the job done than Boa Constrictor males. Boa Constrictors mate often and for long periods of time without the female becoming gravid. Also with Boa Constrictors if the female is not receptive the male will spend weeks trying to court her. With Rainbow Boas the males seem to spend much less time following and courting non-receptive females. When the females are receptive the males mate with them for a few hours to sometimes a full day and then move on. The females of both species do seem to become receptive again several times during the mating season. My BRBs have been breeding and I am pretty sure which ones are gravid and will lay babies. My Surinam Redtails have been breeding but I would not bet on getting babies from them.
Jeff

>>Interesting point, I have noticed the same thing with mine. There seems to be no where near the courting effort that BCI go through. I have seen my BRBs locked up or seperated, none of this crawling all over the female night and day. I have one BCI pair together right now that began courting late November and he still follows her all around the cage like he's just not getting the job done. I have seen alignment but nothing I'd call definate courtship. I guess it just means that BRB girls are easy and BCI need wined and dined more.
>>Milo

i put mine together yesterday. they locked up in the morning. last night they were separated. this morning they were locked up again.

j

Jonathan,
...Welcome back to the forum. You say slutty like it is a bad thing? LOL. Slutty is good. At least in breeding Rainbow Boas it is good. It seems that the more males that mate with a female the better the chances that she will become gravid.
Jeff

Dave,
I was looking over my notes and have only witnessed breeding activity twice. The first litter I never witnessed any activity at all. The first time I saw activity was immediatly after introducing the two younger snakes into the enclosure with the parents and the big male was all over his mate for 5 days. This was in March and that activity did not produce a litter that year and the next year she threw slugs (no witnessed breeding that year). They started breeding in October 2005 and went at it for two weeks (this was spurred on by a weather front that moved through). She had a litter of 14 in May of 2006.
This year has seen all kinds of activity with the two males jostling about last week (nothing violent to me, just moving over each other and positioning). Saturday night I may have seen some tail lock with the younger male and the older female (his mom) but could'nt be sure; this lasted only for one night. Both males have been off feed. Always interesting.
Here's a crappy pic of the males 'playing' the other night.

Paul

Do you cool your snakes? Are they always together except for feeding time? Just wondering and nice cage you got there btw.
Bob

I no longer cool my BRB's. The enclosure they are in and the way it is heated (incandescent lights) creates a wider range of temps in the winter than other seasons (65-88/90). The first winter I had them together I followed a structured cooling down cycle and they bred successfully. The second year I did the same and they did'nt. After that I decided that my tropical snakes do not need to be cooled down and if they breed great and if not great too (though it is really great when they do produce, nothing like a bunch of baby snakes that your female gave birth to). Cooling down boids is a tried and true method to initiate breeding behavior but is it the healthiest way? I personally subscribe to the information given by Ross and Marzec which state that peak diurnal temperature variation are the key for courtship and copulation (The Reproductive Husbandry of Pythons and Boas). He states that they should not be cooled below the low 70's. My house gets cool during the winter and the lower levels of the enclosure drop to the mid 60's; however the upper levels are in the 70's and 80's. The short of it is a wide range of temperatures is the way I go and let the snakes decide where they want to hang out (I've found that they sometimes seek temps in the upper 60's, go figure).
They are kept together always except for feeding time.
Thanks Bob,
Paul

Do you cool your snakes? Are they always together except for feeding time? Just wondering and nice cage you got there btw.
Bob

Paul,
...Great PIC. I like that cage. My males are kept together two to a cage most of the year. Around the first time the temperature drops a couple degrees in early november they start shoving each other around. I have never had one injured during these shoving matches but I suppose there is the potential for it to happen. I think this male to male interaction gets them more excited so that they are more ready to breed after they have been cooled for several weeks and put in with the females.
Jeff

>>Dave,
>>I was looking over my notes and have only witnessed breeding activity twice. The first litter I never witnessed any activity at all. The first time I saw activity was immediatly after introducing the two younger snakes into the enclosure with the parents and the big male was all over his mate for 5 days. This was in March and that activity did not produce a litter that year and the next year she threw slugs (no witnessed breeding that year). They started breeding in October 2005 and went at it for two weeks (this was spurred on by a weather front that moved through). She had a litter of 14 in May of 2006.
>>This year has seen all kinds of activity with the two males jostling about last week (nothing violent to me, just moving over each other and positioning). Saturday night I may have seen some tail lock with the younger male and the older female (his mom) but could'nt be sure; this lasted only for one night. Both males have been off feed. Always interesting.
>>Here's a crappy pic of the males 'playing' the other night.
>>
>>Paul

Thanks Jeff,
This was the first time I had observed this interaction with the males. I'm pretty sure it is the first year the younger male has felt secure enough to 'challenge' his dad. His dad is the bigger of the two and looked like he was dominanting Abel. I'm just wondering if Abel snuck in there with his mom, Eve, when Adam was'nt paying attention. We'll see. Really though, its hard to say what is happening in the dead of night. What is disappointing is Kali has'nt been observed interacting with any of the males (she is really a pretty snake with what I think are perfect crescents, would like to see her get knocked up by Adam). Time will tell.
Paul