Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Reason why i ask.....i decided to breed my 2012 brooksi together this year at the end of january and cooled them together on january 28-march 11. My female shed sometime the last week she was cooled and then the male shed the first day after being warmed. I fed them and then put them back together immediately and they have been together ever since. My male went without eating the first week except for the first feeding...........3 jumbo mice. The female has eaten 1 jumbo mouse every 2 days for 5 feedings in a row and then i noticed on march 21 her eyes were cloudy and refused to eat. She's been hiding in the hide box this week and is getting ready to shed. The male started eating the day she stopped.........both stopped being restless when seperated, right when she refused to eat. I never saw them hookup. They were on top of each other when i would check on them but i never witnessed an actual "hookup". My female looks gravid to me but is this not a bit early for eggs to be coming? Has anyone ever had eggs this soon after warming together? I have the sphagmum moss and tile ready to be put in the tub and i'll get my male outta there tommorrow......just to observe and see how she acts. If she doesn't look like she's in crazy nesting mode, i'll put the male back in and observe. I'm ready to keep them together or let my female lay her eggs......either way. Has anyone had this experience before?

This is what she looked like yesterday.....

What type of Brooks is that?

It is a true Hybino (t-negative albino x hypomelanistic) het for axanthic. I'm breeding her to my male Albescent (t-negative albino x hypomelanistic x axanthic. This is a pic of him right after i warmed him...

Dang, this tends to make folks mad, but here goes, Brumate is a word that describes what the snake is doing. If its breeding and doing things other then what suppose to happen, its NOT brumating.

An example, this year I brumated some cal kings and blairs, at 45F to 60F, oddly or not, they are fed and processed food just fine at those temps.

Also, your other behaviors of feeding not feeding, can be indicators, or not. Which means, sometimes they feed, stop, start, etc and other times the same animals can do something different.
FRom doing this for a very long time, I have seen lots of stuff. Most can be easily explained, some cannot.
While temps are important for such events like brumation. There seems to be more. In this case, our natural oddball weather seems to effect the activity of snakes in captivity. One example a fried came over and I asked if he put his animals together yet, he said no, they are in hibernation/brumation, I said, lets go check them, he asked why, I said, all of mine had already cycled and bred. He said, its too soon. We went over and all his females were full of unfertilized eggs(while in brumation).
So seeing these types events over the years and observing the same in nature. This year the species I observe in nature are already gravid and some are laying. 6 weeks sooner then normal.
This also occurred on another forum(hogs) and folks kick and scream in their belief of a word. The actual point is, learn to palpate for ovum and eggs, and you will know exactly what your animals doing at anytime of year. Its handy, easy, does not cost money, easy on the animals. No reason to not learn it. For instance, If palpated your female, I would tell you how many eggs shes carrying and offer a decent opinion on if they have been fertilized. Fertilized eggs expand are larger so the gaps between the eggs is less to not there. best wishes

Thanks FR......i would like to learn how to phsically examine her! Should i just let her be this time and see what enfolds or just go ahead n check? I'm just trying to observe behavior before messing with her....she tends to get stressed easy and stays that way for a while afterwards. Don't want her miscarrying due to my impatience if i don't need to disturb her.....

I have palpated thousands and never harmed or upset one to the point of aborting the eggs.

It's so easy calmly hold her and aim her back to her cage, as she crawls back, allow her to crawl between your thumb and and the middle joint of your index finger. Make the distance about a 1/4 less then the relaxed height of her body. As if she is crawling in a crack or hole, which they naturally do. As she does that, You can feel whats inside her, not organs and such, but large items like food bolus, ovum, and such.

Once a female is fairly far along, all you have to do is gently lift her mid body, As you lift her, if shes gravid, she will curl the last third of her body.
In the field, we palpate for much more the reproductive condition.
Some people use a smooth cloth like a silk hanky. The friend I mentioned used a red silk hanky.
Some species are more difficult then others, Kings are a easy species. Good luck learning and with your animal

Separated my male from my female's tub and put in 7L of misted and fluffed sphagnum moss under the 12x12 porcelain tile and water dish for her nesting choices....

Wow......she's in the moss already and out from under the hide box. Giving the play by play because there may be other first time breeders out there like me who are fascinated by these animals and i may get feedback from the breeders for decades that may help us out. All the knowledge is grately appreciated and respected by this newbe.....

You know what.. I think that is the first picture ever published on the internet of a true hybino.

Before this I don't think anyone even knew what they looked like

That's awesome!
She ate a jumbo mouse on wednesday and has refused since. Her girth is huge! I couldnt even see a bulge after she ate.....she looks like a sausage. Tomorrow will make 7 days since she shed. My Albescent male looks like he may shed today or tomorrow.....hmmmmm

So more than two weeks have passed since the last post in this thread. Are we to assume she did not lay?

Hahahaha......yes, she did not lay. Her ovaries may have beenvswollen. She has been eating so much that she just looks that plump every day now. I still have the male in with her and all he wants to do is breed. He just dies laps around the tub now and hasnt eaten since last week, which is a long time for him to go without eating.