Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This year I am breeding two of my females to a group of male ball pythons, and so far everything has gone smoothly. They have been cooled and the male are now being introduced to the females. I have noticed locks with both of the females to all three of the boys. It has been over a week of rotating the three boys between the two girls for 2 days at a time. Yesterday when I moved my lesser male out of the cage and put my spider male in, the female became very aggressive and basically started "bucking" around in her cage trying to move the spider around. I took him out immediately thinking maybe she just got scared or something. I introduced him again after about four hours and the same thing happened. I watched them closely this time, and I didn't see any striking going on, just fast body movements to get away from the male. Has anyone ever seen anything like this? The other female is fine, and they are being held at the same temperature and humidity. Also, the aggressive female is the larger of the two females at roughly 1600g. Any explaination would be appreciated.

Its both males and females that get grumpy with me. Whenever I take the males out the male strikes at me and the female gets grumpy as well when I add another male. She doesnt strike at the other male so much as striking at me. How long do you keep the males in with the females before you switch,take them out to feed or rest?

I'm currently cycling the three males between the two females cages and an empty cage. I rotate them every two days, so they technically have 4 days of breeding then 2 days to rest, but the problem isn't with the males, it's the female. Perhaps she needs a break too. I really don't know as this is my first year of breeding. Most of this is experimental for me. The males of are significant size for breeding, so they are being offered food every 2 weeks (which isn't usually taken). I have never been bitten by any of my snakes (I have 10 of them) and this is the first aggressive behavior I have seen out of any of them.

I got tagged by one of my males when I was just changing the water. I guess what ever works for you is the method you should use. As far as aggressive behavior, I get it from both sexes so maybe it is normal. Second year breeding here and the first year there wasnt any successful breedings so I am keeping fingers crossed this year.

I'd recheck your sexes! Normally, "bucking" is a sign of male/male combat!

Re-check the sexes of your snakes. The ONLY time I've ever observed snake-on-snake aggression is when I've placed two males in the same tub. I did that ONCE a long time ago when I was attempting to clean tubs. It lasted all of 30 seconds before the bigger one began freaking out.

If you are thinking - "...but they LOCKED UP! So, one of them HAS to be a female." Sorry, that's wrong. Males WILL lock up with other males.

I'm not saying that it isn't POSSIBLE that your snake is a female, I'm saying that it isn't LIKELY.

Re-sex it again and then if you can have a friend or two also sex it. I'm not saying that you aren't competent enough to do it. Sometimes, these things can be "borderline" and having more than one person's opinion can help. However, I'm guessing that you purchased her as a baby or sub-adult and that you weren't the one who originally sexed her and you took it for granted that the seller/breeder was right.

If that's the case - don't feel bad. It's a more common occurrence than you'd think. If you find out she is a he, get a hold of the seller asap and see what can be done. If you were given any type of guarantee I would hope that the person would honor it.

Let us know how it turns out - one way or another!
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Stay United!

I'm still not sure if it's weird that my best friend is a two year old boa named Ronin. He's quiet, non-judgemental and listens... what more could you want?

Well, I know for a fact that the Spider, Lesser and Pastel/Yellowbelly are boys. I have successfully popped them and have seem their hemipenes. As for the females, I have popped them but I find it much more difficult to distinguish a female via popping. I do not have a probing kit, nor do I feel comfortable probing my snakes due to my lack of experience. It just confuses me because I had the lesser in the cage with her for two days and I witnessed multiple locks between them(and I know boys can lock, trust me, I saw it a few of the males this year). Then as soon as I put the spider in there she went bonkers (keep in mind I had already had him in there with her previously, this was his second cycle with her). As soon as I get back into my room I'll double check both the females, and triple check all the males. Will keep you guys updated!

i was under the impression that 'popping' a snake over a very early age (and that only with proper experience) is very unadvisable to say the least...?