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After 10 years of [bleep] we did it this year, a real breeding of Crotalus pricei pricei. 3 newborn Pricei`s in Bavaria/ Germany.Is there anybody outside, who knows the tricks to do it regular every year(we got 2.2 adults)?

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Pricei are definitely cool little snakes! Good job!

-Kris

every year. The only rattlesnakes I know of that do this naturally are massasaugas. Pricei follow the Mexican montane breeding pattern. Females breed mid to late summer with the onset of monsoon. They give birth approx. one year later during the following monsoon, so I would expect every other year at best.

Hey Rich,

While it may (or may not??) be doubtful that it happens in nature, it is certainly possible to have babies every year in captivity. Reproduction is resource access and use. In captivity, a healthy pair with proper environmental conditions combined with plenty of chow will produce annually. I have done it a few times with lepidus and willardi who most likely are normally every second or third year breeders in nature. One example is a willardi who had 4,5, 7 and 10 live babies in four successive years before I cut her back on chow. I believe pricei would also go every year with the right approach.

Hope all is well with you Rich!! Cheers, H

Thanks for the info H !,

Yep, all is going good, hopefully for you also. Cool stuff! I have always been aware of that concept for kingsnakes and other colubrids but I guess I have just not ever thought of rattlesnakes in that way. I always just considered them too set in their ways. Double clutching in one season in colubrids is well known, but I have had several female pyros and thayeri that I had retired from breeding continue to lay eggs for a couple years without the benefit of breeding. Have you ever had this happen with any crotes?

Cheers,

Rich

I will have to go back and dig around the notes to answer that... I keep all my rattlebuzzers paired up all of the time. Even when they get old I leave them together so it would be impossible for me to say that they kept producing without breeding. I'll try and see if there have been any exceptions.