Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering if any body on this forum has ever successfully bred White Lipped Pythons.

If they have please may you comment on the conditioning you put the animals through and basically how you did it.

any information would be helpful

Thanks Thomas

Quite a few have. Maybe Tom Keogan will show up and talk. He's done it a lot.

Thomas, I am not sure exactly what you mean by conditioning but they go through my normal python breeding temperature cycle (normal for me). The whole cycle thing depends on way to many factors to go over but some are: your location, temperatures, humidity, cages, age, compatibility, health of the animals, hides, food, and overall happiness of the pythons! Mine are healthy captive born adults that are fed adequately but not fat or too thin. I feed the females slightly more then the male prior to the breeding season. I think having established healthy compatible animals is the key and making your pythons as happy as they can be in captivity helps. Do you have any now? If not start with healthy individuals! Good luck they are a beautiful python. I hope that helps! Tom Keogan

Tom thanks for getting back to me, i have a trio of northen's all weighing over 2kg, this normal python cycling you are speaking about, is this just normal temp during the day basking point of 90 for 12 hours and low temp at night at 70 for 12 hours?

when do you start this cycling and for how long?

when do you introduce the male to the female and for how long?

and when do you separate the pair and raise temps back to normal?

sorry for all the questions but your one of few people that has actually bred them.

thanks again

Thomas

Tom thanks for getting back to me, i have a trio of northen's all weighing over 2kg,

Age? Size? Imported? Wormed? How long have they been captive? If you bought them as 2-4 foot captive born are they really captive born in the USA? It can sometimes take several years for an older imported animal to acclimate to our seasons.

this normal python cycling you are speaking about, is this just normal temp during the day basking point of 90 for 12 hours and low temp at night at 70 for 12 hours?

Its slightly more complicated then that, there are many factors. Are they kept in a rack in a small tub or a six foot cage? Are they in a heated room or an air conditioned room with heat tape and a hot spot? Normally for me it takes a 10-20 degree night time drop over a prolonged period of time to get things to ovulate. Its really hard to sum it up in a post!

when do you start this cycling and for how long?

I start cycling my stuff Nov. - Dec. in South Florida but for you it will depend on your location. Even if you think your controlling the temperatures they feel the natural fluctuation in seasonal temperatures. When I was in the cooler Northeast my season started Oct.-Nov.

when do you introduce the male to the female and for how long?

Depending on cage space I sometimes keep them together year round until she is gravid and going to lay. Some years I have kept them separate until Nov. and then kept them together until I know she is gravid.

and when do you separate the pair and raise temps back to normal?

aha the key! I don't separate the pair and raise the temps back to normal! Normally for me females grow follicles and ovulate when the temps are getting warmer. Leave the pair together while bringing the temps up and watch for swelling and more breeding. When she is gravid for sure and laying in a nest box upside down you can take the male away. If you end up with slugs and not nice white eggs you may have pulled him too soon! LOL

sorry for all the questions but your one of few people that has actually bred them.

I am only one of many but I do like to post what I breed here on the forums!

Good luck! Tom

Tom,

fully agreed!

>aha the key! I don't separate the pair and raise the temps back >to normal! Normally for me females grow follicles and ovulate >when the temps are getting warmer.

And that's the clue! Lot's of people separate them to early. My cycle start in Nov.-Dec. (in Germany) and I increase the temps in Feb. I can see the pythons mate in early March and even in April.

Cheers,
Wulf
-----
_________________________________________
_____________http://leiopython.de______________

I think some people (read that most people) introduce too early too. Not just pythons but everything. For some species it is not a big deal but for very aggressive breeders like king snakes for instance, it can severly stress the female if she is not ready to breed and he is. I think there is soooooo much fine tuning of breeding left to be done at this point. Most people get eggs and call it a success but I feel we owe it to our captives to try to work out how to reduce their stress as much as we can.

Then again, adding the male and then removing him to early is probably more stressful, and just think of the damage to the poor girls ego when he wines and dines and then never comes back to seal the deal. HAHAHAHA

Jason

Brilliant,

thanks alot Tom and Wulf,

They are all 4 years old WC lived in the UK since they were 6months - 1 years old, and now they are all about 2 kilos around the 5 foot mark.

they are kept in a rack and heated by a heat mat.

i will start the night time drops to 70 at the beginning of November, and introduce the male in dec, and then increase the temp back up again in feb and will keep together till hopefully she is gravid.

thanks for the massive helping hand, i will let you know the out come

cheers

Thomas Simpkin

There aren't many pythons that Tom DOESN'T breed, and he has success with almost all of them.

But he IS running out of room