Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok.I need to vent my frustration.. Last year was my first year attempting to breed snakes.. Some of my females started to build up but then I had to move out of state so all the follicles were adsorbed that was understandable.. I kept those 5 females and feed them up and retried this season.. I added a few more females to the group and this season I have 9 females that are breeding size and have been breeding.. I started introducing in mid September and have been running males threw the bins since.. All the females have locked up multiple times with at least two different males. One for sure is a proven breeder. The last month or so a few of the girls stop eating and started to build up like they were going to ovulate one was really obvious. She shed 34 days ago and I was figuring that was her pre-lay shed. But today I went to look at her and she is not swollen in her lower half anymore and does not appear to be gravid.. If anything she is a little thin looking now that she hasn't ate in 2 months. Is it possible to completely strike out? I know my husbandry is good all my snakes are kept in racks with thermostats. All are fed frozen thawed and kept on paper towels and cleaned daily as needed. Any opinions on what I may be doing wrong? I was planning on getting more snakes but honestly if im unable to produce im thinking about selling a lot of what I have already and just keep a few of my personal favorites as pets.. Anyone having similar issues?

Just be patient. It's still really early for laying. Sometimes you have a good season and sometimes you don't. In the 07/08 season I had about 75% of my bred females lay. In the 08/09 season I only had about 25% lay. This year it looks like my odd's may be better than last year, who knows. Don't give up, just don't expect too much.

I had similar results the last couple years-last year seemed to be a bad one for most breeders-I attribute it to a very mild, dry winter, with basically no fronts coming through during the breeding season, at least here in Texas.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Jungle Carpet Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase, Striped Desert, Newport, and Coastal California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Like the post above, just wait, it will happen! This is my 1st season breeding, 8 females up to size, males in with em early sept. Got 6 eggs from yellowbelly to normal last sun. Can't tell you how awesome the feeling is! Worth the wait! Expecting a clutch from lesser to normal any day, then next week pastel womma to normal. Fire to normal in prepay blue now! Everyone else still lockin up, so I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed, for me and for you!! Best of luck...
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06
0.2 h albino
07
0.1 dh snow
0.2 leticia
1.1 triple het
0.1 albino h snow
08
2.1 hypo hog
0.1 sunset
1.0 ghost
0.1 arabesque dh stripe alb
1.1 h type 2 anery
0.1 pastel motley
0.1 leticia
1.0 hypo ph bloody sharp
0.2 ph bloody sharp
1.0 h blood
0.1 sunglow poss super
1.2 anery h snow
0.2 albino h snow
1.1 50% guyana h albino
0.1 triple het
0.1 ghost h albino
1.0 jungle h anery ph albino
0.1 pastel het albino
09
1.1 dh blizzard
0.1 h albino
0.1 jungle h albino
1.0 motley h albino ph snow
1.0 albino h snow
1.0 anery h snow
1.1 hypo dh stripe albino
and 25 balls

Hi,

I felt like you yesterday, and today my big girl layed 9 perfect eggs. Game back on. I had all failure last year and decided if this year was a bust I would be out too. Now things are looking up and my snakes are staying put.

Good luck,
Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids
0.1 Spouse
1.0 Chocolate Lab