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I have been cooling my BRB'S for about 2months. The last month has been no heat except for a few hours basking in the day. I wanted to see if my "soon to be breeder" male was in a feeding mode and he was. Isn't it true when male snakes are getting ready to breed they stop eating? Should i stop feeding the snake or let it stop eating naturally? I take a females shed and put it in the males cage and the male goes CRAZY, literally, and hes active and twitching the whole night. When i did this a while ago i thought that he might be ready to breed. So i put him in the females cage and i was pretty siked to see what was happening. The male got all over the female and started twitching and sparraticaly moving his body. Well i watched them for about the next hour and this went on until the male gradually lost interest. It seemed like he was going to breed when i put her in the cage. Is my male snake still not ready? When i did that my female defecated a few times.

So, when will i know that my male is truly ready to breed? I guess the other time was a false alarm. I have been doing everything right but just don't know when to do it. If anybody has any input your answer would be greatly appreciated.

thx, ron

Ron,
I'm hesitant to comment on breeding because I have so little experience; but I've been drinking a bit as stated earlier and am feeling pretty lucid so here goes.
As we all know its the female that says when its going to happen; your male sounds willing.
When my BRB's breed she was 3 years old and he 4 and they had been housed together for a year and a half. They never had anything to do with each other that I ever observed during this period. When she was three I stopped feeding them in mid February and started decreasing the temps around the first of december though the temp. had started to fluctuate earlier than that just with the changing ambient temps. They spent all of December huddled together under this large water-feature thing, which has since become way too small for them, this was the first time they ever interacted that I had seen. In early January I reestablished the full temp range and offered them food, they both ate. They both ate the next time offered then began to refuse: he stayed active around the cage, she started hanging out in the warm basking areas. Never saw any kind of mating activity at all. She gave birth on June 4 to 15 neonates.
Now I wonder about not feeding them. My adults are now very acclimated and interact often. Though the temps are decreased they act hungry. Do tropical snakes go off feed seasonally in the wild? I don't know but would kind of dought it. How much are they cooling off in the wild? These are answers I definitly would love to learn ( I want to hear from the person who's following these animals around with a thermister, if I could only figure out a way to be that person!).
Anyway, wow, ramble. I can't answer your question.
Good luck,
Paul

I have been cooling my BRB'S for about 2months. The last month has been no heat except for a few hours basking in the day. I wanted to see if my "soon to be breeder" male was in a feeding mode and he was. Isn't it true when male snakes are getting ready to breed they stop eating? Should i stop feeding the snake or let it stop eating naturally? I take a females shed and put it in the males cage and the male goes CRAZY, literally, and hes active and twitching the whole night. When i did this a while ago i thought that he might be ready to breed. So i put him in the females cage and i was pretty siked to see what was happening. The male got all over the female and started twitching and sparraticaly moving his body. Well i watched them for about the next hour and this went on until the male gradually lost interest. It seemed like he was going to breed when i put her in the cage. Is my male snake still not ready? When i did that my female defecated a few times.

So, when will i know that my male is truly ready to breed? I guess the other time was a false alarm. I have been doing everything right but just don't know when to do it. If anybody has any input your answer would be greatly appreciated.

Should have checked my message: I guess they would have been pretty thin if I put them off feed in February.
Loopy

ron,
. I do not feed mine while cooling because I worry that cooling temps may not be high enough for good digestion. Last year I kept little BRBs cool during the winter and fed them weekly and they did fine so there may be no problem feeding adults during cooling. After I warm them back up the females eat aggressively and the males usually show no interest in feeding. I am not sure what is going on with your male. It seems that he is not acting like my males do. If you have had them cool enough it is probably time to cage them together and warm them up and see what happens.
Jeff

>>I have been cooling my BRB'S for about 2months. The last month has been no heat except for a few hours basking in the day. I wanted to see if my "soon to be breeder" male was in a feeding mode and he was. Isn't it true when male snakes are getting ready to breed they stop eating? Should i stop feeding the snake or let it stop eating naturally? I take a females shed and put it in the males cage and the male goes CRAZY, literally, and hes active and twitching the whole night. When i did this a while ago i thought that he might be ready to breed. So i put him in the females cage and i was pretty siked to see what was happening. The male got all over the female and started twitching and sparraticaly moving his body. Well i watched them for about the next hour and this went on until the male gradually lost interest. It seemed like he was going to breed when i put her in the cage. Is my male snake still not ready? When i did that my female defecated a few times.
>>
>>So, when will i know that my male is truly ready to breed? I guess the other time was a false alarm. I have been doing everything right but just don't know when to do it. If anybody has any input your answer would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>thx, ron

My male seems VERY active with the female but just doesn't copulate. I think i will just take him off feed whethere he wants to feed or not till january. Then in januray, (almost three months with no heat except for basking for a few hours) i will introduce them and warm temperatures up. Do you think i should warm them back up starting soon or what? Do males go off feed when you start warming back up?

thx ron

Ron,
. See my reply to Mr Binderup's post. I wish I could tell you an exact temperature to cool them to and for how long. I used to have good luck with cooling six weeks or a little less. Whether introducing during the latter part of the cooling or waiting to introduce after warming them back up seems to not make much difference.
Jeff

>>My male seems VERY active with the female but just doesn't copulate. I think i will just take him off feed whethere he wants to feed or not till january. Then in januray, (almost three months with no heat except for basking for a few hours) i will introduce them and warm temperatures up. Do you think i should warm them back up starting soon or what? Do males go off feed when you start warming back up?
>>
>>thx ron

Well, i actually just introduced my pair. As usual the male went "crazy" and started twitching. It looked like the male was wrestling the female. Thier tails were on each other only for a second but then the male just moved on and kept twitching over the female. When the male and females tail come in contact with each other will they immediatly wrap around each other or does it take a few runs?

ron

Ron,
. Some males figure it out quicker than others.
Jeff

>>Well, i actually just introduced my pair. As usual the male went "crazy" and started twitching. It looked like the male was wrestling the female. Thier tails were on each other only for a second but then the male just moved on and kept twitching over the female. When the male and females tail come in contact with each other will they immediatly wrap around each other or does it take a few runs?
>>
>>ron