Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I am knew to these forums, but not to reptiles. I have owned many diffrent types for about 15 years now. I have just gotten into breeding snakes and have a few questions about an adult pair of Brook's kings I have recently aquired. I was told they were properly cycled, but when put together no breeding was seen. They have been together for about a month, so I was planning on parting them for 2 to 3 weeks and re-introducing the pair. Is this the best way to see breeding results, also this is a proven pair, both snakes are about 4 years old.

2-3 weeks is far too long to keep them apart in my opinion. I'd put them together on and off every few days.
Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Assuming your pair of kings HAS been cooled off PROPERLY... Are the temps/humidity right for them now? (I assume so, since you mentioned having kept snakes before) Has the female shed yet? If she hasn't, she is probably not quite ready yet. The best time to introduce the male is right after the female sheds. And always put the male into the female's enclosure, not the female into the male's enclosure (it's the male's job to find a female in the wild).
Two of my best breeding pairs have just mated and they have been out of brumation for over a month themselves - so no need to panic yet... If you are not sure if she has shed recently then just seperate them for about three days and try again and see how they behave. They will ALWAYS give you clues (if the time is right), if you watch them for about 30-60 minutes after putting them together ie: Female not trying frantically to get away from the male, the male chasing the female and making jerky types of moves with his body against the females....etc...
Hope this helps a bit...

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Thanks guys, I am not sure if the female has shed since burmation, and to be honest I am not sure if the pair of snakes was cycled correctly, I will inquire the original owner of these animals for more information on that. To add another question, are brook's known for double clutching, i have heard of it from Calis and corns/rats, but is this common in this speacies?
Thanks again.

place them together couple times a week or so. i been putting my pines together about 7 or 8 times in a mouth and nothing until yesterday i placed them together and they locked up for a bit over a hour.

Yes, a lot of colubrids can and will double-clutch if all the right conditions are met - Brooksi & Eastern (kings) included.
As a matter-of-fact, my largest breeding pair of Eastern Kings did so for me last year (my male is over 6 foot, my female is a little over 5 foot). The female laid 12 huge eggs at the end of May last year, and then 8 more in early August.
If you want your female to double clutch, all you have to do is three things 1. make sure she's always well fed, hydrated and happy, (but not obese).
2. Right after she has finished laying all her eggs offer her as much food as she will take - preferrably all small meals (instead of adult mice, offer lots of fuzzies) since she will be exhausted after laying all those eggs. 3. As soon as she has finished eating, place the male in there with her and they may mate again within a day or two provided you have kept the female happy and well fed all year!
This has worked for me several times even though I did not really plan on double clutching any of them until later in the season...
Here's last year's pics of that pair I mentioned (both were babies from S.GA animals)(female is in bottom photo)
The male actually has some faint brooksi influence aquired in the wild (notice his lighter colors), which is normal in some
S.GA/N.FL animals. (Both of these eat medium rats for me most of the year...)

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Zee! Good to hear you on the forum! I bet you have an awesome lineup olanned this year!
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Todd Hughes