Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering around what age are male ball pythons unable to breed. I have a Ten year old male and was just wondering.

Thanx
Scott

I don't believe alot of research has been done on this topic, however, I believe it was the Barkers who said they have some animals around 20 that were breeding fine. I would say 10 is still plenty young for a male to breed.
Jason

Hi Scott -

Especially for males, I think they should be able to produce sperm (and most importantly, have the urge to pass it on) right up until the end of life. But like Jason implied, the research is being done now by everyone who continues to breed their ever-aging animals successfully. Considering that the record age for a ball python in captivity is over 47 years old, we have a ways to go before we can positively answer your question. But it’s safe to say that these animals will be passing their genes on for a very long time, indeed.

A male which I hatched in 1983 did his part this year in producing a clutch of 14 fertile eggs. A female which I got as an adult in 1982 produced a clutch of 17 fertile eggs this year. And a male which I got as an adult in 1979 helped produce several clutches this year. So your ten-year-old male should have a lot of life (and lives) left in him.

-Joan

As already stated, there isn't much research in this area. I suspect it would be a difficult study as it requires knowing the age of the animals in the study. To my knowledge, there is no reliable way to "date" an animal. The only way for this to be somewhat conclusive is for the author of the study to hatch his own group of animals and follow their reproductive efforts throughout their life-cycle. Anyone got 47 years to kill?
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Jay A. Martin

...I had a female acquired as a 1969 juvenile (makes me sound old doesn't it?!) that produced hatchlings in 1992 (her 23rd year). I was 11 years old in '69 by the way!!!
Scott J. Michaels DVM