Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So do any of you have that one snake in your collection that is ALWAYS hungry and that lunges across their enclosure to get their food?? I have one just like that in my collection and she has honestly NEVER 1 single time turned down food, not when she's in shed, not when she's already eaten one meal the same day (I will usually feed her whatever the others decide to reject)she simply never refused an opportunity to eat. AS OF TONIGHT she has totally refused her first meal. I attempted like 3 times just to make sure that she was really refusing and she did!! I take this as a great sign!!!

As of the last week or two, she has been soaking in her water bowl non-stop and the male has been with her on and off for the past two months. I have just separated them as the male goes through a shed cycle and I am debating even reintroducing them, though I probably will until I get another shed from the female! She is already starting to noticeably swell in her lower section! Heres to hoping she is already gravid!!! I think all the signs are right......

This is her a few years back

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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)

Congrats and if you're not 200% sure she's already gravid, put that male back in. Only when your sure she's gravid and he's ignoring her, then you can remove him.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks Dave, I agree 100%, no sense in messing things up by removing him too early!!! I will leave him in until she is glued to the heat!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)

Congratulations!!! Signs sound good to me, but like Dave said, keep that male in until you are positive.

Crossing my fingers for you!
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

Hey, thanks Aubrey, and will do on the male!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)

Ike,
...It sounds like she is gravid but not sure. She may have ovulated but if she has you still do not know if the ova have been fertilized so definitely leave the male with her until you are sure he is not interested in breeding. You want the male to breed with her as often as possible. He may go through periods of a day or two showing no interest and then mate with her again. If you have a cold front or low pressure system pass open the windows for awhile as that will often get them breeding again. I usually make an educated guess that mine are gravid after all mating activity has stopped for a week or more and the female refuses food for a couple attempts. I have had females look and act gravid including refusing meals and then never deliver anything. So keep your fingers crossed. An X-ray would tell for sure if she has ovulated but they are terratogenic and should not be used, especially early in gravidity. Try letting her crawl betweeen your fingers with your fingertips applying some pressure up into the belly scutes. If she is gravid or has completed ovulation you will feel the ova as lumps in the back half of her body as they pass your fingertips. Some females are so large and dense that you cannot feel the lumps and some will tense up too much so that is difficult to feel them. Each ova is around two thirds to three quarters the size of a hen's egg. They will feel soft as they pass your fingertips. BTW, slugs will feel hard and sometimes feel more elongated than good ova.
Good luck,
Jeff

Hey thanks for the replies everyone! Big thanks Jeff for the long and detailed response!!!

I am definitely planning on using everyones advice and leaving the male in with Lucille. (I left my male in with Roxxy last season until Mid April though come to find out her POS was actually in mid March!!) I am just going to wait for him to go through the last bit of his current shed cycle and then I am going to re-introduce the two. I had planned to feed them if they were interested while separated and what do you know, they both refused food, guess they have better things on their minds.

I feel that the couple of days to a week of separation really helps to create some interest and spur things along once they are reintroduced!!!! I did this with my other female last year and Dugo and he always seems eager to go back into the females enclosures!!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)

fingers are crossed for you, im not even gonna comment on my opinions or anything else because i have ZERO luck breeding rainbows, lol, i have bred carpet pythons, ball pythons, blood pythons, corn snakes, boa constrictors, leopard geckos, fat tail geckos, diff fish mostly cichlids, cats once when i wanted to and other times was just nature taking its course lol, even crickets and mealworms at one point, all being first time trying and then no problems there after, HOWEVER rainbow boas, lol i have tried on year for ARB, and three diff years for BRB and not one single litter lol.

Hey thanks Tim, and LOL on your rainbow boa difficulties!! I know you can do it! Its kinda funny, I am the opposite of you.... I have bred leopard geckos (10 yrs ago as a kid) and BRBs, that is it though!!! You have bred every other creature but brbs it looks like. Why do you figured you're having the troubles? You best figure it out by the time your very nice hypo and hets get up to size!!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)

lol im oping i figure it out by then, i think my and the rainbows are going to sit down and start reading and studying lol. maybe read them daves breeding 101 as a bed time story every night so they know what to do lol.

once again, good luck and my fingers are crossed for you

yeah yeah yeah, he will go back in once he gets his shed off, and I hope he will be all the more focused on her after his small absence.
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rusheena)