Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently have a male dh sunglow paired with a female dh sunglow. I have some doubts that the female surely is a female but I had a couple other breeders look at her and both thought she was a female, so I assume she is. Anyways, I still have little doubt and I have not been seeing much action in the past two months with them together.

Rather than pulling the male and trying him on another female, what if I added another female to the breeding? Are there too many cons associated with group breedings in boas?

Thanks,

Mat

A good set of probes will solve your mystery

How old is your male?

If your male is on the younger end of the breeding scale, under 2 years of age, he might not yet have the desire to breed. It could be that he just needs another year to mature.

Is he a proven breeder or is this his first time trying?

If your male is older, over 2 years of age, he could be over whelmed by the size of the female he's in with. Try him on a smaller female, if you have a smaller one. Since you're not 100% sure on the sex of the female he's in with, it still might be best to try another female. If he shows interest, it will mean that he's sexually mature and the problem could be the other female.

If you're sure your male is old/big enough to do the job.... Don't add another female to the mix. Instead, put him in with a different female. If he shows interest, then your other female is either "not ready" or could be a male.

Temperature could also be a reason that nothing has happened yet. Some people have success by "cooling" their boas. Others don't cool at all and have success breeding their boas as well.
I don't cool my boas at all. In fact, I raise the temps during breeding and gestation.

If you want to know if your female is a "female". Just look at the tail. Females will have a slightly shorter tail. Their spurs will be "buried" compared to the male. The tail on a female is firm feeling during breeding season. A males tail will be soft and mushy. That's because males tails will be slightly or very swollen with male fluids.

To determine if your male is ready to breed.... Well the one sign is that he will show interest in a female. Another sign will be that he's smearing his cage with "male fluids". Yet another sign, is his tail will appear to be thick and swollen with male fluids. It's really hard to describe, but once you see it, you'll know what you're looking at. I've actually had males that have noticable scale seperation on their tails during breeding season.

If you're males tail is "thin and tapered", and he doesn't show interest in a different female..... Then he's probably not ready to breed. He could need another year to mature.