I have a simple questions about breeding. Forgive me...I'm novice. I've bred corn snakes, but my cornsnakes breed like mad without any special efforts. I have a pair of Coastal Carpets. The male is about 6 years old and a very large healthy boy. The female is about four years old, also very healthy and fairly large sized.
I enjoy these snakes and have thought about trying to breed this pair, sometime. I hadn't really planned on doing it yet, so I didn't temperature cycle them or anything beyond the natural changes in temps in my house this winter. BUT, I decided to throw them together this spring just to see what they would do. (I was naieve and treated them just like my horny cornsnakes....hahahaha). They've been together off and on from February till about April 1. I understand that's late for Carpet pythons and not exactly the right time to put them together. I didn't observe any copulation, but they definitely reponded to each other. She often moved around and "whipped" her tail around like a cat. He didn't seem to show much interest. But I often saw them all coiled together (not copulating) just coiled together in one big happy snake coil.
I separated them and have been feeding them. They are both eating well, as they usually do. How likely is it that they could have copulated and I would have missed it? Could she actually even ovulate and become gravid without the temperature cycling? Do males produce sperm without proper temperature cycling? Is he likely to show any interest in breeding if he is six years old and never been put with a female before?
I'm thinking that I will start temperature cycling in the fall and put them together again in November or so. Any advice from those more experienced?
Thanks,
hayseed
