Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear rainbow boa people

A few questions about breeding Brazilian rainbow boas.
Will be very thankful if any of you can help me, here in Denmark (Europe) there are few keepers of BRB.

I have a group of 3 BRB - supposedly two females and a male - the WC male looking old, and no breeding attempts so far in the three years I had the group. I never had them sexed, but the supposed females has noticeably smaller spurs, and the tail of the male has a long apperence.

A few hours ago, I introduced a new young male to the females (and the old male). And wow - some action is seen in the cage! The new male constantly follows the females around the cage, right from the moment I put him in cage (with female A). I moved him to the other cage (female B old male) one hour later, and now it follows female B, sometimes pushing a bit. It does not seem to notice the old male, and the old male does not seem to notice the new male.

1) Could this be breeding behavior? I mean, is it normal that the male follows the females in that manner, also sometimes pushing?

2) Last week (before ever introducing the new male), I saw something strange: One of my supposed females had its' cloaca a bit open, and something red and swollen was seen at the opening for a few minutes. Then a little bit of clear water-like fluid came out of the cloaca, and it seemed that the snake left a "sample" of this on a stone, that it just crawled over.

Is this snake still a female? Or is the behavior I see with the new male following my "females(?)" in fact male combat?

3) How can I know if the females are receptive? The animals has been slightly cooled during this winter, until a month ago. What are the chances of pregnancy if they copulate?

4) In my cages, the snakes will not able to escape the insisting new male. They cannot move to other cages by them selves through some system of pipes. Will the snakes eventually get very stressed from the activities of the new male?

And what are the sizes nessesary of the breeding cage when introducing couples for days/weeks? My cages are 40x20x20 inches.

Greetings,
Tobias (Denmark)

This is my first year breeding BRBs. Before my females went into "heat" the male didn't take any notice of her, infact he ignored her for a good few weeks. Your male may not be interested because the females aren't.

Now, for your one female who left a "specimen". I would look into this, what you described sounds like a sperm plug to me. And spermplugs don't come from females! I would get her probed.

Sometimes, with our BCIs, if a male isn't doing his part, we'll put another male in with him and the female. This male/male competetion will usually spring the lazy males to life, but not always.
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1.1 96, 04 Het Albino - "Suzie" & "Lumpy"
0.1 03 Poss. Het Albino - "Ami"
0.1 05 Super Salmon - "CreamSicle"
0.1 04 Anery Het Snow- "Squelchy"
1.0 04 DH-Sunglow - "Dwayne"
1.0 06 TH-Moonglow - "Gargamel"
1.2 01 BRBs- "Gobball", "Larva" & "Tofu"

Male to male interaction also works to get lazy male BRBs interested and going but some of the never seem to be interested or breed.
Jeff

>>This is my first year breeding BRBs. Before my females went into "heat" the male didn't take any notice of her, infact he ignored her for a good few weeks. Your male may not be interested because the females aren't.
>>
>>Now, for your one female who left a "specimen". I would look into this, what you described sounds like a sperm plug to me. And spermplugs don't come from females! I would get her probed.
>>
>>Sometimes, with our BCIs, if a male isn't doing his part, we'll put another male in with him and the female. This male/male competetion will usually spring the lazy males to life, but not always.
>>-----
>>1.1 96, 04 Het Albino - "Suzie" & "Lumpy"
>>0.1 03 Poss. Het Albino - "Ami"
>>0.1 05 Super Salmon - "CreamSicle"
>>0.1 04 Anery Het Snow- "Squelchy"
>>1.0 04 DH-Sunglow - "Dwayne"
>>1.0 06 TH-Moonglow - "Gargamel"
>>1.2 01 BRBs- "Gobball", "Larva" & "Tofu"

Hi Tobias, first off, welcome to the forum!!

A male will follow a female that is putting off the pheromones indicating she is or will be receptive to breeding. Also, the males will push each other around, more of a sideways trying to push the other aside. Not typically (from what I've seen) one male riding the other. Was the new male wrapping it's tail around the "female"? All methods of sexinbg do leave some interpretation and while an experienced keeper can be very accurate, mistakes do happen. I have two "females" that proved out male this year. Neither one I sexed, just went on the info given by the two seperate breeders they came from. Typical mistake is to sex it female when it's actually a male.

This is a sperm plug or hemipenal shed floating in a water bowl:

Actually I think it's only one side since many others I have seen have 4 branches or look like an "X". One I recently found was stuck to the side of the bowl just above the water line wiht most dangling inb the water. Looked like half an octopus. Main part stuck the bowl with four dangling legs.

Typical breeding looks something like this:

The male is the one wrapped completely around the female who remains more or less straight. If you see one doing this OR, see spurring where the spur is rotated and raked across the other BRB, then that is a male

I fhte female is putting off scent and attracting the male, chances are good for copulation and successful breeding.

The size cage you listed should be adequate for breeding. If there is no female scent, then I really don't know if there would be any male fighting activity.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

At least one of the supposed females is a true female!
It is around noon now, and the new male has its' tails wrapped around the females' tail after chasing her during the night.

I cannot see if they are actually copulating, but at least this much is clear: I have a male and a female, and the male is very interested in mating. He has been chasing her all night, trying several times to get contact tail by tail.

* Do you think that chances are good/not so good, that she will get pregnant? She is no longer trying to escape him, but still it seems that it is the male running the show.

* How can you tell, if the female is receptive? Is there a certain time during the cycle, that she is receptive - or is she more or less receptive for a long periode during spring (after beeing cooled for the winter months)?

The male has its' tail wrapped around the females' tail.
It is not possible to see though, if true copulation is taking place. What do you think?

(here should be a picture - hope it works for me)

Congratulations Tobias! This must be very exciting for you. Now, leave those snake together. Usually, multiple breedings will take place over a course of weeks or even monthe before the female becomes pregnant. In order for this to occur, she must ovulate. When females start to become "receptive" they will often refuse meals and show some signs of swelling even though they have not eaten recently. They will hang out in the cooler ends of the cage. Once a female has ovulated, she will seek out heat (85-88° F) and just stay there for 4 - 5 months. Best of luck with them!
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

...the female sounds to me if she was gaping, which slightly inverts the cloaca and releases fluids and sometimes a little blood, I have seen this behavior in many snake species, Boids in particular, well now they are mating, but if you where wondering what the female was doing, she was most likely releasing even more pheromones for the male to follow, pheromones are released threw the skin, feces, and other bodily fluids. Sometimes leaving a scent trail for the male. Also it looks like they are copulating from my house good luck and follow the other peoples advice about repeated copulations and leaving the pair together. While other posters talked of sperm plugs from your "female" this is now impossiblity because it is a female, the gaping is most likely what you where observing in case you wanted to know. I am not 100 % on the trail thing, I state this because Anacondas do indeed do this and I believe Brazilians are more closely related to Anacondas than lets say , red tailed boas...
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

I think you are right about the cloacal gaping because:

1) It actually happened one minut after I introduced the snake to my OLD male (the one that does not seem interested in the ladies).

2) It did not exactly look like a hemipenis, maybe what I saw was the inner of cloaca comming out a millimeter or two.

3) My new male has been chasing both of the females (also this female that I suspected might be a male). If it was a male, he probably would not have chased her in exactly the same way as he chase the female that he is now having a great time with in her cage away from the other female.

...
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

IMO, he's chasing her because she smells good. She smells good because she's in heat. Chances are good. She may not be ready yet but, I'm sure in the wild the female has to put off those good scents for a period of time to allow the male time tom find her. I believe your chances to be good. Let them do their thang!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Sounds great! I will leave them alone doing their thing. Perhaps, in a week or two, I will give the other female a chance to have a piece of the cake and let the male visit her for a while.

For swapping back and forth, you can do that as often as you like.

Two thoughts/rules:

Never move the male when he's wrapped around the female. Duh, don't want to interrupt anything.

Move him often. Daily! If he's not actively persuing the female he's with, move him to the other cage. The "window" of opportunity is not small but still, you don't want to miss it!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks, it is a good idea: if the male does'nt mind being moved from time to time, I think it is a good idea to move him every day.
Yep, it would be sad to miss that "window"!!

As long as you're not "interupting" him, he'll love it!!

I've had one male impregnate 4 females in one season, 90 offspring!!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave, do by chance, have the ratio on all 4 litters (Live/stillborn/slug)
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

huh? Interesting question nonetheless and that has me thinking about it too. I wonder what male it was, maybe either Porky but I think M5/Lefty. I wonder who it is though cuz Dave couldn't get Lefty in the mood last year or this year so that is a great question IMO.
Bob

I am interested in how well he fertilized all those females without running outa troops so to speak lol
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

I'm wondering if he bred to much that year and maybe suffered in an injury or went gay or something but I just want to learn pretty much. If that is indeed Lefty in '05 -he hasn't gotten busy since then and that has me wondering what could have happened if anything at all did. I just hope Lefty makes some babies cuz he makes very nice ones indeed.
Bob

did you see the those 3 super motleys over on the boa forum? I'm sure you did cuz u posted on the thread but that is something very nice to look forward to buddy.
Bob

lol
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

Oh yeah, it was Lefty...
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I love tracking trends etc.

mother live/still/slug
Petunia 23/0/2
Boo 26/0/5
It 21/3/7
Bullseye 20/0/1
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

-

thanks dave, I love studying reproductive data and was interested in the results of one male to 4 females, I bet he had more troops to do a few more, I was wondering how many would start to interfere with viable copulations.
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

Will have some VERY interesting data towards that end this year. Ann is over at Mikes on a breeding loan. She was mated by Mikes male # 2 ONE TIME! Then she swelled up like a balloon and he was never interested in her again. Her stats wil be very interesting to say the least. She is a first time 2.5 year old breeder. So I would expect a smaller litter 10 - 15 babies. But only being bred one time and apparently being gravid is VERY interesting. Timing is everything.

I have not heard of more females being successfully bred by a single male in a given year.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

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

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

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats