Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently read that Mike Lockwood breeds his rainbow boas by cooling a 1.2 colony in the same cage and has a lot of success with this. I am fairly light on my males and was wondering how feesable it would be to put 1.4 rainbows in the same cage and still get good results. I wonder if as the females ovulate if the male will have enough in him to stud all 4. Would it be better to cycle the girls out, I am kind of afraid of missing ovulation with this tactic. What do you guys think?

Some male Rainbow Boas are good breeders and can impregnate many females each year. Some other males seem to never get too interested their entire lives and may not mate some years.

Just for clarification, I cool all of my animals separately. I begin about now and cool until mid-February or so. After the animals have been cycled, I introduce males when I think they're ready. If I am pairing a male with multiple females, they are all kept together. He will move from female to female on his own (wouldn't you?)(just kidding). Good luck.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Thank you for the clarification Mike. I read your reptile's magazine article from a few years ago and am using that to try and base my breeding off of this year.

Did we speak on the phone a few weeks ago? If so, it sounds like you are taking the right steps towards a successful year.

I bet you could keep the group together through the cooling and breding period. I know at least one breeder who does this. I don't because I don't want a bunch of breeding to happen before the females are ready. We don't want the males getting exhausted early on and then not be able to step up when we need them.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

It wasn't me you spoke to on the phone. I'm noticing copulation between my rainbows and some of the girls. I know it won't take since there's no ovulation. I think it's a good idea to pull the males sporadically through cooling, thanks again!
Hardin Herpetologica