Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The education continues for me. Woke up this morning to the following scene (pic). Here's the latest history (caution: some of what you'll read flies in the face of conventional wisdom):
-around 2/25 both adults going through shed cycle so I thought this was a good time to start introducing my 21 month old snakes to the large enclosure (the original plan was I was just going to keep 1 female from my first litter and keep 3 in my 6'x4'x3' enclosure but I ended up keeping 2 supposed females so I had a dilemma because I really do not think it is big enough for 4 eventual adult BRB's; but I talked myself into it),
-2/27 sub-adult #1 goes into enclosure after shedding; feeds quickly in separate feeding bin,
-3/7 sub-adult #2 follows after also shedding; also feeds readily in bin,
-3/13 male sheds in AM, female sheds in PM, when I got home around 11:00pm I find both adults cruising around cage, I feed both sub-adults and the male leaving the male in the bin to go to bed, got up around 1:30 and took male out of bin and back into enclosure. Woke this morning to them mating.
It has also been unusually warm here in Sacramento and the enclosure temps have ranged from 73-90+.
Anyway thought this might be interesting (certainly has been for me).
Take care,
Paul

Paul,
. Great PIC. I have only had BRBs younger than 2 years old breed a couple of times and did not get any babies from those matings. How big is the female?
Jeff

>>The education continues for me. Woke up this morning to the following scene (pic). Here's the latest history (caution: some of what you'll read flies in the face of conventional wisdom):
>>-around 2/25 both adults going through shed cycle so I thought this was a good time to start introducing my 21 month old snakes to the large enclosure (the original plan was I was just going to keep 1 female from my first litter and keep 3 in my 6'x4'x3' enclosure but I ended up keeping 2 supposed females so I had a dilemma because I really do not think it is big enough for 4 eventual adult BRB's; but I talked myself into it),
>>-2/27 sub-adult #1 goes into enclosure after shedding; feeds quickly in separate feeding bin,
>>-3/7 sub-adult #2 follows after also shedding; also feeds readily in bin,
>>-3/13 male sheds in AM, female sheds in PM, when I got home around 11:00pm I find both adults cruising around cage, I feed both sub-adults and the male leaving the male in the bin to go to bed, got up around 1:30 and took male out of bin and back into enclosure. Woke this morning to them mating.
>>It has also been unusually warm here in Sacramento and the enclosure temps have ranged from 73-90 .
>>Anyway thought this might be interesting (certainly has been for me).
>>Take care,
>>Paul
>>
>>

Jeff,
That is the adult female being mated by the male. I was a little unclear in my previous post. The two sub-adults are about 3.5' long. What I'm wondering is if the presence of these two new cage mates has stimulated the male, coupled with the adult female having just shed. I probed the subs about a year ago but I had never done so in the past and was being very careful. After reading one of your posts stating that males are often misidentified as females due to their muscular tails I am now unsure if in fact they are females. It just seems odd; he just ate a med. rat last night and has been eating regularly since January. The female had been acting gravid (posted pic earlier with her flopped over on her side in one of the hot spots).
So truely, I've no idea what is going on. But it is exciting to actually see them locked up (and are still as I write). My gut feeling is that it may be too late? I posted a pic of her in the bath way back in early Feb. with her very swollen so I thought the ovulation period was way over. Can they ovulate several times? Would she let him mate her if she were already well into her pregnancy?
I could go on forever with my questions. Just when you think your starting to get a handle on these things!
Thanks,
Paul

I'm interested in what Jeff has to say about this. I am too green to have seen anything like that. Pretty cool though.

Linda

Paul,
. Sorry I misread your earlier post. It sems to me that she is likely not yet gravid. It is hard to figure what got them breeding again. The female shedding and the introduction of the other young BRbs may have had something to do with it. The weather chamge may have also provided some sort of stimulus to get them breeding again. Some of mine semed to have finished breeding and then restarted breeding a few weeks later this year. I do see some increased interest by rotating males and females around. I put males together sometimes to get them to tussle a little and then when they go back in with females they do seem more inclined to breed. It seems to me that we are just scratching the surface of the mystery of breeding Rainbow Boas.
Jeff

>>I'm interested in what Jeff has to say about this. I am too green to have seen anything like that. Pretty cool though.
>>
>>Linda