Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, this morning I found my 6yr old female Brooksi had shed and so I placed her with her mate, a 9yr old male Brooski. These two have bred before in the past but I just acquired them last Fall. I figured that there would be some kind of "racket" and then a tie. Instead I see a couple snakes that are eyeballing one another from across the cage, she rattling her tail occasionally, him holding back and yawning a lot. I am guessing that the yawn is him pulling her odor into his throat big time. Is that true? Or is he bored? Does this sound like "normal" behavior. They were both cooled for a couple months this winter. They have been together now for over two hours and no breeding. Any suggestions as to what I can expect? Do they like it dark? Is my presence bothering them? Do I leave her with him overnight? Thanks.

well,
if she is rattling her tail, either she is not quite ready to mate with this male or possibly nervous/upset with being in his territory. you could give them a break (separate them) and try to introduce the male into her enclosure. her pheromone "message" may not be strong enough for the male to initially detect over all of the other scents in his cage. by putting him into her enclosure, her "message" might be more likely to come to the forefront for the male, and she may be more comfortable in her own territory, and allow mating behavior to proceed. you may want to leave just her shed skin in with the male so he can explore it and get the message whether or not the female is receptive before any other attempts are made.
it may not be true for all breeders, but one thing i occasionally notice with brooksi is that the females are not always receptive to males right after shedding, even with proven pairs. it takes a few days to 14 days (max in my experience) for females to accept males. so , a little patience, a little experimenting , and take notes on what does and doesn't work. that becomes a valuable database especially after several years where you can observe trends occurring with your pair.
these are some of my obs/exp., others definitely have different succesful obs/exp.; keep asking questions and good luck.
dave b

Now things are heating up. He has wrapped himself around her and is moving in rythmic motions. She still rattles her tail a little bit. But it appears that breeding is soon to take place. I put her in his cage as it is a 50gal reptile tank and hers is only a 20gal. It's been four hours and as far as we can tell no locking of tails has happened yet. It doesn't appear that either one is objecting too much. So unless someone tells me to move her out I will leave them together for a while longer. Tonight is the night I usually feed. What do I do about feeding her? Just not worry about it until tomorrow? Or remove her this evening and offer her food? How long do I wait after she eats until placing her with him again? Should I wait for two full days? I just don't want to miss my opportune time for babies. Thanks.

It took him almost 6 hours but he is accomplishing the act as I key this message. Quite interesting to a first time breeder. I found it facinating that he didn't grab and hold on to her head but instead grabbed hold of her body about 10inches above her vent and held on. Should I leave them together for two days? Remove and feed and place together again? My thinking is to leave them alone for two days and then feed them. Then put her backin with him after a couple more days. Is that a good plan?

Afterwards I separated the pair for the night. I plan on putting her back in tomorrow morning and see if they would like to repeat this activity. One thing that surprised me was that the male was shedding during this process. He is a lavender and it's difficult to tell when he is in shed. He is so docile and after mating he allowed us to completely remove his shed even pulling it back off his mouth, eyes and head. He is almost 6ft in length and just a massive male. He is the most gentle and docile animal ever and we can't wait to see his offspring. This was a brand-new experience for me and to witness this event was so much fun.