Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious when everyone stops cooling. Kevin's book says between 2-4 months without really specifying when he stops. After 6 locks? After ovulation? When you feel it in your bones? Haven't found any definative info on the subject, so am curious how everyone gauges it.
Steve
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Primeval-Beauty
"Finding beauty where other's fear to tread"

...and what the animals in question are doing.

ck

I usually start cooling in November and start warmin' em back up in February. Their own biological clock sometimes determines when THEY start and end though

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Just looking for info, how do you guys do it?
Example:
I cool Dec thru jan, and then heat everybody back up.
Or:
I resume normal temps after several locks.
I'm sure theres not a set way to do it, and everyone and their animals differ. But I'm wondering what has worked for everyone.
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Primeval-Beauty
"Finding beauty where other's fear to tread"

This is my first year breeding, but from what I understand late Feb or early March. Again, this sounds is kinda like a crappy answer, but it does depend. From what I also understand is once the female ovulates, they are done. I suggest looking in the tubs 2 times each day and observing the behavior. I keep track of the info and dates of compulations, sheds, ect... Keep reading different sources. Look for pics of females ovulating so you will know what to look for. Hope this helps!
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Steve Smith
Midwest Reptiles
www.mwreptiles.com

Obviously, there will be discrepancies between breeders. I just started cooling so am planning on bringing everyone back up in march, and if I spot ovulation before then females getting brought up to temp. There's just not much mention of the specifics and hadn't seen the discussion.
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Primeval-Beauty
"Finding beauty where other's fear to tread"

Usually we don't cool to any substantial temp. The room fluctuates a few degrees when it gets really cool outside (here in south florida really cool is in the 50's). This has worked well for us with bp's and boas and I know quite a few other breeders that don't cool as well with great success.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

Clearly there are lots of different "recipies" for successfully breeding ball pythons. For what it's worth, for the last two years I haven't cooled any of my snakes at all. Temps haven't varied in the snake room 3 degrees from day to night or summer through winter. I have monitored females with ultrasound and breed them when they develop follicles of appropriate size. I had about 45 clutches last year and averaged less than 2.5 lock-ups per clutch I was also able to get 14 clutches out of a single male last year and I hope to beat that mark this year. My first clutch of last year was laid in December and the last clutch hatched out the middle of November. My first clutch of this new year was laid on Dec 11 and I have about 10 other females that have either already ovulated or are very near ovulation. Lowering temps MAY have have some impact on driving "a higher percentage" of females to ovulate in a shorter time window, but I honestly have not seen this. The distribution of when my clutches were laid is just like almost everyone else with the majority being hatched in May - August. The last two years clearly illustrate to me that ball pythons do not have to have lowere temps in order to ovulate and most if not all will ovulate whether you lower the temps or not. You just need to be able to monitor their follicle development and breed then when they are ready, no matter what month it is.
I have begun shooting an instructional video (in HD no less) on the use of ultrasound in reptile breeding and hope to have it completed by summer.
Good Luck
Grant Whitmer

Thanks for your insights Grant. BTW, where did purchase your ultrasound from? Is there any special kind to purchase - other than the best possible price I can find
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Alice Cobb
Florida Reptile Room

Best ultrasound results in Ball Pythons are achieved using an ultrasound machine with a linear probe with a frequency between 5mhz -7.5mhz. A 5mhz probe will work for everything from balls and larger up to Retics. A 7.5nhz probe will work well for ball pythons and almost everything smaller. A higher frequency probe will give you better definition and resolution, but is limited in the depth of field/focus. A lower frequency probe has a greater depth of field/focus but does not provide the same level of detail. This year for our collection and for the shooting of our video, I have been using a SIUI 200. It is a light, portable and "relatively" inexpensive digital machine that is made in china(under $4,000 - $5,000 new). We are resellers for SIUI and have plans to tweak and configure a machine specifically for reptiles.
Good luck
Grant

Good stuff Grant!!! I can't wait to see your dvd, put me on the list. Talk soon, Brian (BHB)

www.myspace.com/bhbreptiles
www.snakebytes.tumblr.com

Brian,
I am sure my humble video will seem like a home movie compared to your video exploits. I hope it will be a very useful video. It's been fun,but this video stuff is alot of work!!! Kudos to you and what you are doing...I have new found respect for the time and effort required!
Thanks
Grant