Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello!!
I have some questions for you experts about boa breeding in particular about copulation. I have a female 4 years old 6ft pastel b.c.i and a 3,5 years old 5,5ft male pastel b.c.i. I've decided to breed them this year. Since one month i have gradually dropped the night temp at around 72F (22C) while the day temp is around 83F (27C) with an higher humidity level. Light hours are reduced from 13 to 7. The male stopped eating, while the feamle continues to eat smaller prey items. The male ofen will be very active when the light is turned off. My first question is: must i switch the temps to an higher level (88F during the day, 77F during the night) some days before introducing the male into the female's cage? My second question is about copulation: How many time they will spend in courting and copulating? Some people told me that they will court/copulate almost every day in a period of a month, while others told me that they will copulate only a couple of days. I'm planning to keep them together for about a month.Can i remove the male from the cage when i'll see ovulation in the female?
Flavio

You can bump up the daytime highs like you mentioned,(88f) you can also let the nighttime lows go to 70-72,there is no magic temperature formula that I'm aware of...but, LEAVE THEM TOGETHER,only separate them briefly during feeding,(allow a period of 24-48 hrs for them to settle down after feeding.) then reintroduce the male...and,LEAVE THEM TOGETHER!!! there may be what seem like long periods of inactivity,especially after presumed ovulation...but,LEAVE THEM TOGETHER,(*lol*)I think this is one of the most important factors that will affect a positive outcome from breeding trials! this past season,I didn't pull my males until 3 weeks prior to the females delivery,while leaving them this long obviously didn't have any effect one way,or,the other,(once the ova had been fertilized,the game was technically already won.)I think alot of people pull the males following what they believe to be visual confirmation of ovulation,followed by a seeming lack of gusto in the males interest....BUT....(you guessed it,*lol*) "LEAVE THEM TOGETHER!"...(best of luck with your breeding this year! )

I left mine together for 2-3 months (Dec-Mar) just to make sure the opportunity was there for any possible breeding attempts. Worked out great! 19 healthy little ones, and no slugs!

Good Luck!
Ben