Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Since its that time of the year again lets post some breeding recipes . Everyone has different stategies and can learn from each other. In the past I have fed weekly year round and will offer extra feed for females june through september. I try to use females at a min weight of 1500 grams and males at a min of 750 grams. Night time temps of the tape are lowered to 85 the first week of october and continued that way until feb or march or until all breeders have ovulated. Pairs are housed together mon -fri and fed and rested the weekends. All animals are offered food weekly ......Some will eat some wont! Weights are monitored on males closely and removed from the project if they go too long without eating and losing weight. Any observed copulations are logged into feeding charts . Once all breeding females ovulate or march , Heat tape is returned to 95 degrees and pairs are seperated. This year I may not lower night temps at the tape ? I have witnessed copulations weekly and the room temps have been droping in the low 70's at night. I am starting to think the temp fluctuation in the room is enough to trigger breeding. So this season I will not be lowering Heat tape temps. Does anyone else not lower heat tape temps ? Good luck to you all this season!!!!!!!!!

"I have witnessed copulations weekly and the room temps have been droping in the low 70's at night. I am starting to think the temp fluctuation in the room is enough to trigger breeding."

It is. For some people, they can't lower the room temp so they have to lower the actual heat source temps. But my snake room lowers as winter sets in and daylight hours don't heat that side of the house as much anymore. I keep my house at 72, so the snake room goes down to about 74 at night when the sunlight isn't heating it at around 78 like it does during the daytime. They also can tell the shortened daylight coming in from the windows (great thing about Wisconsin). I did not touch my temps at all last year and every pair I put together bred, ovulated, and gave me great clutches. This year I'm not touching temps either, and all of my pairs have been breeding like crazy. My males are still eating on their resting periods, as well as 9 out of 11 females. Only 2 big girls have started fasting. Everyone that I want to breed is doing so, I don't have any that are refusing or acting uninterested. I'm holding off a few others to keep putting weight on them -- they'll go later.

Good luck!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

...that I put males in with females only until they've completed a successful lock, then they go back to their own tub for 3-5 days to build up sperm again, eat, drink, etc. I check daily after placing a male and usually they lock within 24 hours -- if they don't, then they probably aren't going to and he will curl up by himself in a corner. If I see this, I take him out and try again in a week. That's how things started out in October, but now I don't see it anymore. Once he has had his rest, then he goes to another female. I am only giving my males 2-3 females each, and each one was specifically chosen because they have traits that would compliment their mate (like I chose my high-golds and reduced patterns for the spider, light-colored reduced patterns with blushing for the clown, etc). Every witnessed copulation goes into each female's breeding chart, as does the date I feel follicles (as well as how many), the date of ovulation, pre-lay blue, pre-lay shed, lay date, number of eggs (fertile and/or slug), clutch hatch date, and how many successfully hatched as well as sex ratio. Each year is color-coded on her chart. Yes, I'm that OCD...LOL!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Jen-
I'm doing the same thing this year, with similar results. We've had a strong cold front come through here in SW Texas, and my snakes are responding with daily hookups-not only balls, but boas and chondros as well.

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Brad Chambers

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Nice pair there Brad, good luck with that pair and all your other pairings!
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globalreptiles.ca

Thanks ........looks like leaving the heat tape on through breeding will not effect folicle development. Found my male het for clown locked up today!!! Sounds like quite a few of us are not lowering temps at all with decent results. I was hoping this would not become a debate over who is right and wrong over techniques , and it worked out! Jas you are the king of little studs but I pushed a het for lav last year and found him belly up........ Props to you for being so successful and not saying I wouldnt try again if time was an issue, It just really sucked to find him dead and felt responsible. So I have a clutch of pos hets for lav in the bator that should hatch any day and no male to breed the females back to. I will have to pray to the morph gods and breed brother to sister and hope for the best.......Odds will definitely be against me!!!!!! I will be dedicating a single male to a single female this year in an effort for pure quality. Due to the fact that breeding season is upon us I will be posting generic questions for everyones benefit and hope all breeders will chime in and help educate all the lookers out there. Maybe we can avoid the same questions, Thanks for everyones input and good luck to you all this season/
Bryan This is the male that died.......Breeding fine ,resting on the weekends and eating weekly???

I start cooling Nov. 1.
I keep my heat at 95 for 12 hours during the day, and then off for 12 hours at night.
The room drops to about 75 degrees.
I begin pairings the middle of November, males go into the females enclosures.
During this time I may CAREFUL ATTENTION to follicular maturation and remove any "no-goer females" from the projects, to better utilize my males.
My heat goes back on April 1.
I continue to pair until the females ovulate, sometimes as late as July.
I also feed my females meals no arger than 100g until they refuse food.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

I never lower my temps.. 200g male goes in breeds comes out next female. Repeat... Then eggs and babies!!
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

Hey John - any tips on how to keep small males (or any size males for that matter) feeding through breeding season?
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Insert Silly Quote Here

None of my males go off food. So I would say dont drop temps!
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

I do not really drop my temps like most do. My ambient air temp in my snake room, in the winter, never gets below 80-82 degrees, usually at 84 or 85. I also keep the heat tape on all winter, on a thermostat. My males sometimes go off food, sometimes they do not. Might be a seaonal thing and not a temp thing, but who knows.

Dave

Last year I dropped temps, this year I haven't (room or cable). All of my pairings so far have resulted in lock ups, and one of my females already has follicles the size of large marbles. I was planning on dropping temps in Dec. like I did last year, but things are going so well I don't see any reason to. My females are feeding really well, and the males are feeding on and off.

Shelly

Isn't 200 gms kinda small/young for a male to start breeding. When do you start you females?
-Ed

in what way is 200 grams to small?

In the same way that a nine year old boy is too young to father a child. The difference is is that a 200g male breeder will be dead soon, and the human boy won't.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Funny!! those 200g dads are in the 1000g.area now and some of my best feeders and breeders...
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http://www.myspace.com/jasballpythons

Lets stop compairing humans to snakes. Do people wait till dogs are teenagers to breed? if you take that idea of age your dog would be to old. Jas is on to something, with young males. You must understand your snake.
Kevin

Nope, you wait till the female [bleep] is in her SECOND heat (not the first). Sometimes greed and that need to breed your high end morph male to make all the money you can as fast as you can takes precedence over common sense.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Common sence tells me you don't know what your talking about...I have several 07 males breeding multiple females...None have stopped eating but boy their are still breeding...Had the same thing going on last year...How can you force a snake to breed? It's nothing like putting a female dog in a rape box and letting her junk get taken...How can you compare humans to reptiles? Why knock someone for apparently doing something that you can't get done?
BT

It's not that I can't. It's that I won't.
Common sence. I mean sense.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

To each their own but you still didn't answer the question...How can you compare breeding reptiles to humans? Tell me why it's so wrong to breed young males? You really think their going to die from breeding young? LOL...That really is a good one...Greed huh? Yep - I'm making a million spittin out the Mojaves - Lessers - Spiders - Pastels - Ect...Come on man - Come up with something believable...It's real simple - Put two snakes in a box and let mother nature take her course...If the little fellow wants to breed he will - If he doesn't - He'll crawl his little happy ass in the corner and sit...Let me guess - Next it's I don't love my snakes...To each their own - Good luck to you -
BT

So now your calling me greedy? LMAO! Learn your snakes before you try and learn people......
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http://www.myspace.com/jasballpythons

No and 800g..
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http://www.myspace.com/jasballpythons