Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hoping some of you can give me some good advice. I have a 3 year old hopefully gravid BRB. She is housed with her mate in a 55 gal aquarium on reptibark. The cage has a peg board top under the screen and I mist it now and then. There is a heating pad under one end, turned off, tho. The room stays 75-80 degrees.

Questions: I know I need to separate them, but am wondering if I should leave her in her current set up and move the male, or move the female, and to what type of set up? What type of bedding? She does not like the heating pad so I keep it turned off. She will move to the other end if it is on. Do BRBs need belly heat like BCIs? Does she need a hide box? She liked to bury under the cypress mulch I had in there, but not the reptibark. How long do they usually carry their young?

I just want her to be real comfy. I'm pretty sure she's gravid. It would be six to seven months since I witnessed active copulation. Her scales look stretched, compared to the male, but she isn't real fat.

Sorry for all the questions. I have experience with ball pythons and BCIs but not BRBs. This is a really nice pair purchased from Eugene Bissett.

Thanks so much!

Amy C.

I would move the male if I were you but wait on Jeff, Mike and Dave on that one though.

Is the heating pad on a dimmer or thermostat and if not she will not like the 90 plus degree temps that pad throws off.

They like belly heat but low temps since this species is not arboreal and they will hide A LOT and yes they need humid hides absolutely.

They usually carry their young ABOUT 5-5.5 months or maybe 110 days after POS

They like cypress mulch, pine shavings or indented craft paper among other substrates.

Six or seven months since last copulation doesn't sound right since they only carry the babies for maybe 6 months max but don't quote me on that and I may very well get reamed a new one but this isn't the boa forum so I'll throw it out there for you.

Highest I would let my temps go up are 83 and 85 is the absolute highest in general. Temp gun your girl and see what she reads and the area is she hanging out the most. Most pregnant females tend to coil up on the heat so best of luck to you and keep us informed
Bob

Thanks a bunch. The heat pad when on is at 90 degrees - set on low. Pine shavings are okay for BRBs? I thought I had to stay away from pine for all except my local Fla. snakes. The dates are a guestimate - I had written it down and pasted it to the tank, but got impatient because I couldn't tell that she was gravid and decided it was a no go and took it off. Maybe she's just fat, but she refused to eat two weeks ago, hasn't eaten in a month and still looks full. I'll try her again tomorrow.

Thanks again!

Try hooking that heat pad up to dimmer at least and they will prolly use the heat to digest their food and stuff but they love hiding a lot in a hide with damp spaghnum moss. I hope pine shavings are alright cuz I use them but I think you are referring to cedar wood-stay away from that stuff. How big is their enclosure? big enough to thermoregulate? And if she is or was pregnant you know not to feed anything close to a regular meal huh? if a female is of proper breeding weight and HEALTHY enough then no food is necessary during the gestation period. refusing food is a good sign for pregnancy or bad husbandry. any more ?'s just post them
Bob

Amy C.,
.....Welcome to the forum. Most of my litters come 5.5 months after last observed mating. The females refuse food for the entire 5.5 months except for sometimes just a couple of small meals. My cages are in the mid to high 70s for gravid females with a warmer spot for them to thermoregulate. Using a temp gun I find that they are usually in the low 70s when not gravid and high 70s when gravid. I would try covering half to three quaters of the holes in the peg board to see if then you did not need to mist. Most breeders remove males from the females cages when they are gravid but usually the males will leave them alone after they are definitiely gravid so it probably does not make much difference. Provide an especially humid dark hiding spot and the female will probably settle in there and lay the babies when it is time. Your report of 6 to 7 months since observed mating and just going off feed the last month makes me think yours may not be gravid. How much does she weigh and does she look very thin in the forward half of her body and fat and lumpy in the aft half?
Jeff

>>Hoping some of you can give me some good advice. I have a 3 year old hopefully gravid BRB. She is housed with her mate in a 55 gal aquarium on reptibark. The cage has a peg board top under the screen and I mist it now and then. There is a heating pad under one end, turned off, tho. The room stays 75-80 degrees.
>>
>>Questions: I know I need to separate them, but am wondering if I should leave her in her current set up and move the male, or move the female, and to what type of set up? What type of bedding? She does not like the heating pad so I keep it turned off. She will move to the other end if it is on. Do BRBs need belly heat like BCIs? Does she need a hide box? She liked to bury under the cypress mulch I had in there, but not the reptibark. How long do they usually carry their young?
>>
>>I just want her to be real comfy. I'm pretty sure she's gravid. It would be six to seven months since I witnessed active copulation. Her scales look stretched, compared to the male, but she isn't real fat.
>>
>>Sorry for all the questions. I have experience with ball pythons and BCIs but not BRBs. This is a really nice pair purchased from Eugene Bissett.
>>
>>Thanks so much!
>>
>>Amy C.

Thanks, Jeff. I'll try to get a picture of her tomorrow. I'm gonna see if she'll eat a small/medium rat. That's a great idea about covering the pegboard, hadn't thought of it. Maybe she isn't gravid and I'm just wanting her to be so badly? If she is tho, I want to be sure she's in a proper set up for birthing. If 70's is the correct temp, I'm not worried about her being too cool. My house is kept fairly warm - today with the outside temp at 100 my living room where the BRBs are was at 78-81.

Don't know why, but have never given them hides. I'll see what I can come up with. They are accustomed to lots of activity around their cage - it's on a counter between the kitchen and living room.

Thanks, again, Jeff. I really appreciate your suggestions.

Amy C.