Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If a pair breeds early in the cooling period and the female then becomes reclusive and inactive should you warm things back up? I'm not sure if any breeding has occured but they were both very active early and spent days together under the moss in one spot. Now he is everywhere every night (pic was taken about a 1/2 hour ago) and she's buried where the temps are around 72-75. Do females retain sperm? I've been stepping down the temps w/ the last drop about 5 days ago. Now I'm wondering if I should still wait another two weeks before warming them back up. Any thoughts?
Paul

Paul,
. Good PIC, pretty snake. I usually cool them for around 6 weeks. When I have introduced them during the cooling it was always 3 to 4 weeks into the cooling and I left them cooled for the entire 5 to 6 weeks even if they had been mating a week or two before. Because we have so much evidence of snakes retaining sperm for a year or more I would think that there would be no problem retaining it for the rest of a cooling period. All of my BRBs are right in the middle of cooling now with their body temps from 67 to 71 now. Who knows whether your 72 to 75 is better or my 67 to 71 is better. Whether you warm them back up now depends on whether you think the 72 to 75 is cool enough and whther they have been cool for a long enough time. I dunno???
Jeff

>>If a pair breeds early in the cooling period and the female then becomes reclusive and inactive should you warm things back up? I'm not sure if any breeding has occured but they were both very active early and spent days together under the moss in one spot. Now he is everywhere every night (pic was taken about a 1/2 hour ago) and she's buried where the temps are around 72-75. Do females retain sperm? I've been stepping down the temps w/ the last drop about 5 days ago. Now I'm wondering if I should still wait another two weeks before warming them back up. Any thoughts?
>>Paul
>>

Jeff,
The 72-75 temps were actually taken 5 days ago when I just lowered the temps.. I stuck the probe back down there in her buried cave and the temp is now reading 66.7, so it will probably range from 66 to 70. This is the coolest spot in the cage. I'm going to stick with the game plan.
I've been re-reading Ross and Marzec and was interested if you concur with the oldest age for reproduction in a female being 7.5 yrs. What is your record?
Thanks,
Paul

Paul,
. I have several older than that breeding. One of my imports came to me in 1992 over 6 feet long and with a giant head like she was old. She is still breeding for me but has recently thrown small litters. Several of my CB ones are 9 and 10 and still breeding well. Tom Davis had some that bred for him for 16 years.
Jeff

>>Jeff,
>>The 72-75 temps were actually taken 5 days ago when I just lowered the temps.. I stuck the probe back down there in her buried cave and the temp is now reading 66.7, so it will probably range from 66 to 70. This is the coolest spot in the cage. I'm going to stick with the game plan.
>>I've been re-reading Ross and Marzec and was interested if you concur with the oldest age for reproduction in a female being 7.5 yrs. What is your record?
>>Thanks,
>>Paul

I was hoping that figure came from a lack of information when the book was written. I would have hated to put my female down after 7-8 yrs (JUST KIDDING!!).
Incidentally, back to temps, do you offer a 'hot spot' when cooling and the 67-71 is a mean or is that the complete temp. range? My male now is spending alot of time in the evening just basking in one of the hot spots that currently is about 80-82. My fixed probe (set mid enclosure about 3 ft. up) is ranging from 73-76. The cold areas about 66-69.
Thanks for the info.
Paul

Paul,
. This year I am using no hotspot in the cages. I had good results until three years ago when I went to Vision cages with under the cage heating. My under cage heaters were keeping a warm spot much of the time and the snakes just stayed on the warm spot. This year the entire cage is cooled down to the high 60s and low 70s. I use a Raytek IR temp gun to check he snake's actual temperature and they are all right at 69 or 70. This year will be a big experiment here to see if I can get my production back up to where it was back when I was cooling more. I have to ad that I used to have some respiratory problems during cooling and the last three years I have had none have any problems. Breeding snakes is riskier than not breeding them.
Jeff

>>I was hoping that figure came from a lack of information when the book was written. I would have hated to put my female down after 7-8 yrs (JUST KIDDING!!).
>>Incidentally, back to temps, do you offer a 'hot spot' when cooling and the 67-71 is a mean or is that the complete temp. range? My male now is spending alot of time in the evening just basking in one of the hot spots that currently is about 80-82. My fixed probe (set mid enclosure about 3 ft. up) is ranging from 73-76. The cold areas about 66-69.
>>Thanks for the info.
>>Paul

Jeff,
Thanks again for sharing. I'll have to look into that IR temp gun. I use two of those Indoor/Outdoor thermisters; one stationary and one I move around. It would be very convenient to be able to quickly spot check. Dumb question; does it shoot through glass? I'm guessing thats the idea but you'd think there would be some interference.
It will be interesting to see how things work out with your breeders.
Paul

Paul,
. Accuracy is greatly diminished shooting thru glass.
Jeff

>>Jeff,
>>Thanks again for sharing. I'll have to look into that IR temp gun. I use two of those Indoor/Outdoor thermisters; one stationary and one I move around. It would be very convenient to be able to quickly spot check. Dumb question; does it shoot through glass? I'm guessing thats the idea but you'd think there would be some interference.
>>It will be interesting to see how things work out with your breeders.
>>Paul

I hope he filled her up Paul

Greets,

Michiel

I'm still hoping for a few more trips to the station.
Paul