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On March 30th my 8' 5 year old f-2 female salmon boa droped her first litter (10 slugs & 3 pre mature babies). It goes without saying I was expecting alot more. I bred the male(a coral albino) to another female after he bred the salmon, & I might have seperated them a little to soon, which would explain all the slugs. The bigger question is why so few possible offspring? All I can think is that she only ovulated on one side, & maybe the other oviduct was cluged or something. 105 days after POS would have been April 1st, 2 days later.
All 3 newborns were hypo, the baby on the far left died soon after birth. The one on the right was the largest & dosen't seem to have any problems. The one in the middle with the large yoke sack I didn't expect to live, but 6 days later he is looking alot better & acting like a new born boa.
At least it wasn't a complete bust.
Jason Reese.

I took this picture later that day of the two that lived. Both are doing good now, even the one that was still attached to that huge yoke sack.
Jason Reese.

Sorry to here of the outcome Jason but at least you have the two babies to show for it. With a DH snow ready to drop within the next two weeks I'm a little nervous myself because you never know.

that has going to be one of the most heart breaking things to happen when you have an expecting mother.... Hope the ones that made it grow up to be beautiful animals.

Thanks,
Wyatt

TW Intl Inc.
Dallas, Tx

to be learned here!! Not that it will make you feel better but anybody that has bred boas for enough time has gone through the same experience and has hopefully learned from it and became a better keeper!! Enjoy the 2 that have made it and continue trying and learning. Good luck.

Here are the 2 that lived as of today, pre first shed (6days). Next season I will have one male for every female.
Jason Reese.

n/p

atleast you have 2 of them ,some get none

Even though this was her first litter she is over 8 feet & 5 years old, she should have had at least twice as many offspring even if they were just slugs. I've already guessed the male should have been with her longer, which may have help reduce the amount of unfertilized eggs. The fact that she would have only had 13 possible offspring is the real question. All I can think of is one of oviducts had been cluged only allowing her to ovulate on one side, 26 seems more like what her first litter should have looked like.
Jason Reese.

I would say that keeping the male in with the female longer is the most obvious solution to your fertility questions but that doesn't answer your question of the small number of possible offspring. My thoughts would turn to the keeper in a situation like this and the environmental stimulus provided to encourage follicle growth and breeding. The idea that one oviduct was plugged would be a more likely possibility if she had been bred before but having said this was her first litter, my opinion is that is not likely the problem. I would look more to what I did as a keeper prior to and during courting and copulation. Just my thoughts but I certainly don't have all the answers!!

Well I should find out soon, my next litter is due June 4th (105 POS) from the same male, kepted under the same conditions. If I get a similar litter that could be true, but there could also be a problem with the male (low sperm count ect.). This was a smaller female & ovulation was much more noticeable, the salmon female never seem to swell up as large. At the time I thought it might be because she was so big to began with. Now I know it was because she was carring such a small litter, which is also leading me to think she had a pluged ovidut, & only ovulated on one side.
Regardless I will be breeding the salmon female again next she season. Only time will tell what my results will be for next season, I may never know exactly what the problem was all I can do is try it again & see if I get a better outcome.
Thanks for your input Tom.
Jason Reese.

Not to discount your theory, but I witnessed Jason's conditioning myself, and he did everything almost exactly the same as I do. I would normally say look at the keeper also, but seeing what he did I would not change a thing. I also realize I am not a big name breeder, however last year I averaged 1 slug per litter, and that was with all virgins, one being under 2 years old at the time. This year I attempted to breed 8 females and all 8 have ovulated(including all females I bred last year). Obviously I can not tell you what this years fertility rate will be, but soon I will have that data also. Again I am no expert and can not explain what happened, but I have done pretty well myself,and I did have the advantage of seeing his setup first hand. I am sure Jason appreciates the imput,as do I, but I do feel in this case it is something else.It is my theory that something is not quite right with this female.You could be 100% right and me 100% wrong, but the fact that there were not more babies or slugs leads me to my theory. BTW you have some incredible animals. Craig Kade

My understanding is that salmon/hypo's have small litters averaging 10 to 12 baby's, As for the high slug/preemy ratio I think is due to a problem with the male being kept with to high a temp before using him, I had a problem with one of my males last year, We had a defective heat tape in his cage that we think cooked his sperm, Three females breed 2 were DH striped albino known for large litters 1st female 6 preemies 28 slugs, 2nd female 4 preemies 32 slugs, Third female salmon 11 slugs. Other breeders I have talked to said this makes sense. Good luck with your second female but if you have the same results I would start checking with the male