Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found out my snakes are 03 double het for snows and not 04s does that mean I can breed them....

It all depends if they are of the proper size and weight, what kind of condition they are in. Got anymore info for us?
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Voices in the darkness... scream away my mental health. Can I.. ask a question.. to help save me from myself? Enemies fill up the pages, are they me?... Monday till Sunday in stages, set me free!!! " Diary of a Madman " Ozzy Osbournewww.freewebs.com/bahreptiles

I hope both pictures will show up. They are two different snakes. Here is a link to all three: (all different)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=112067623&albumId=1058608

Well, that's not helping much. Looks to be maybe 4ft or so in the pics. Going from a pic with a 4" ID card as a refrence, I guessed she is about 11-12 cards long, maybe 4ft or so? That puts her on the small size for length. We need to get some more definate info.
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Voices in the darkness... scream away my mental health. Can I.. ask a question.. to help save me from myself? Enemies fill up the pages, are they me?... Monday till Sunday in stages, set me free!!! " Diary of a Madman " Ozzy Osbournewww.freewebs.com/bahreptiles

I tried figure out size. Both of them seem small but they woun't grow much either even with increased food. I have some sheddings that are 6 and a half feet. Is there a way to get a size out of those?

Shed snake skins stretch. So I'm gonna guess your female might be 5ft long. I say that is too small for breeding. Reason being she probably doesn't have the weight either. It would really help if you could give some solid info on them both. Find a measuring tape, some bathroom scales, take a couple of pics them beside something that will give a better reference for their size. Have another person in the pic?? something.
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Voices in the darkness... scream away my mental health. Can I.. ask a question.. to help save me from myself? Enemies fill up the pages, are they me?... Monday till Sunday in stages, set me free!!! " Diary of a Madman " Ozzy Osbournewww.freewebs.com/bahreptiles

Hmmm. I doubt I can hold them. Can a boa not breed at 5 ft. I have just been told the ages. I grew them up slow from tiny babys. Damnit I wanted the possiblity of snows this year. I will have all the info tonight. Guessing I would say they both way close to 15 pounds and are 5-6 ft. I can't hold them close and this is according to a snake stick guessing weight. These females are mean and fiesty. I have a more docile 17ft retic then these 2 girls. I am feeding them 2 large rodentpro rats a week. Most the time they eat both sometimes they don't. Are they stunted?????? Do I need to up the feedings. I am bringing over scales and stuff tonight. My wife lost the stuff I need in our move. Whats bad is my 05 ghost looks bigger then my double hets.

I don't see all the pictures. I did see 3 pictures of the same snake next to an ID card. That snake is pretty small. I doubt that it's 5 feet. A 4 foot snake can have a shed that's 6 foot long. The sheds are very elastic. I think you're a bit off on the weight to. I'd be surprised if that snake in the picutre weighs more than 8 or 9 pounds.

As far as breeding goes........

Your male should be "good to go". Males don't do much of the work, even though they are a very important aspect of breeding. All they supply their share and then they can go back to eating, sleeping, shedding, pooping, drinking... and what ever else littly male snakes do.

Unfortunately it's not that "easy" for the females.

I guess if you're really impatient you can breed them this year. You might even get a litter of babies. Of course,.............

If a female doesn't have good weight, size, and muscle mass it will affect her health. Females put a lot of time and effort into producing a litter of babies.
Females should be 6 foot before breeding. I guess if you have a 5 or 6 year old boa and she's only 5 1/2 feet, then it would be OK, but you still need weight and muscle mass. They need weight, because female tend to stop eating for "MONTHS" during the breeding and gestation process. They need muscle mass to help "PUSH" the babies out. Size is important, because a larger boa will have more stored fat and more muscle mass. It's all about the health and well being of the female, before, during, and after, in the breeding process.

If you really want to breed your female.... Then go for it.

I guess the worse thing that could happen is she would "die".

For me... If I'm in doubt as to whether or not a boa is ready to breed.... I give her another year.

I agree with the above post.

Here’s a story I can share: I was in a hurry to breed my newly acquired albino and het back in ’02. They were 4 years old. They were both over 5’, the female was about 6’ and almost 20lbs. They had been very heavily power-fed by the previous owner. The albino was ‘big enough’ but what I didn’t realize was she was just big and fat. She had very poor muscle mass. She did end up becoming gravid. She gave birth in ‘03. When she gave birth, one of the babies got stuck in her and I had to pull it out, it was stuck for over 2 hours! She had become lethargic and couldn’t get it out (luckily it was the last one). The birth was premature and consisted of 8 stillborns and 12 live babies of which only 4 survived. It was completely heart wrenching to see this, to watch all of those little babies slowly die off and pass on because they were premature. It took her over 2 years to finally start putting back on weight, and by that, I mean a healthy weight of muscle mass and not just fat. I believe I was very lucky that she did not die. I have not bred her since but I might feel confident to try it again next year. In my rush to breed I almost lost my female and going through that bad experience almost put me off of the entire breeding aspect of boas all together. Just something to think about and thought I’d share my experience of breeding a boa that was not mature or healthy enough for it.
-April