Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I asked this same question in the Python forum I am not trying to spam just wanted an idea of what species live to be the oldest breeders in captivity. I have read that snakes breed until they die. Along with the above question I am trying to figure out if some of my older snakes 7-9 years of age are able to breed without causing life threatening stress, these include a Cal. Kingsnake and a JCP.
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

Don't know about the boids but I have had kings and corns breed well into their teens and some beyond..
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

www.crimsonking.funtigo.com

I have a cali king collected from the wild as a large adult in 2000 so he is at least 10 or 11 years old - he bred just fine this year.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

I got a pair of '06 Ruthveni from Aaron Mattson, that was sired by a male Ruthvens that Lloyd Lemke caught. The male is supposedly at least 25 years old.
-Phil

Wow 25 Years old and still breeding that is amazing, I wonder can anyones snake top 25 years old?
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

My oldest female to successfully breed is a graybanded king that I caught in 1996 as a sub or young adult. I would estimate her to be 2 years minimum and 4 years maximun of age at the time of capture. She successfully bred from 1997 to 2006 and I didn't try to breed her this year. She did ovulate but I didn't put a male in with her due to lack of space for the babies.

My oldest male to successfully breed was the ruthveni that Patton spoke of below. It was collected by Lloyd Lemke in the early 80's. Although I never verified that with Lloyd (due to Lloyd's death before I became interested) it was definitly owned by at least 3 and possibly 4 people before I came into possesion of it. He produced a 100% fertile clutch last year in 2006.

CB snakes do not live to the ripe old ages of many WC snakes that grew up in the wild and spent the rest of their lives in captivity.

This is true of kingsnakes, rosyboas, etc.

Why is that?

I'd like to blame sweaterbox caging (and lack of temperature variation and lack of exercise that results) but alot of these WC old-timers spent their years in captivity in sweaterboxes. So it must be something else. Maybe WC snakes just have more vigor.
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Mark

Some people argue it’s the prey items in the wild versus lab rodents/live or F/T. Or maybe air temp plays more of a role in digestion then what we are currently air aware of (Who keeps snakes cages air tempts constant? I try to but it isn’t cheap/easy). Maybe it’s as simple as exercise and the hunt. Or maybe its the air quality in homes VS outside. Maybe its a combination of things?
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Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

Natural selection?
A lot of captive bred snakes would have deselected in the wild, but survive in captivity because they can.
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3.6 L. getula californiae - 16 eggs (Cal. King)
1.1 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
3.3 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - 14 eggs (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

I have a friend who breeds colubrids and all of his snakes live till and breed into their twenties.
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Genesis 1:1

I traded a 40" 0.1 albino prarie king and $10 in '93 for an adult male banded cal king.
He is still with me, and prolly grew about 4-5" in 14 years.
He is the snake I have people hold if they have never held a snake... He is the most gentle, careful, and smart snake I have seen, and I have dozens....
None of my females are even 7 years old yet, so.....
I look forward to breeding them next year, hopefully I'll have 3 clutches of kings..........
He is a backup if my bananna don't like my newport....

That is good to hear that he is going strong!
Your male banded cal king sounds like the perfect pet!
Banded cal kings are my favorite phase of cal king.
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Genesis 1:1