Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone have any experience of breeding wild-caught females that have been fairly recently imported from Africa? In other words, is it worth the money buying 1 CBB adult female to breed verses buying 5 or 6 wild-caught adults and placing them into a breeding program?

Any input welcome.
Thanks, Ryan

because I went to a show and was drawn to a particular WC female so I took the chance on getting her. She is only about 800 grams so is not ready yet but she was inexpensive so I took the gamble. From what I have heard they are harder to get to eat and they can have parasites and health problems so I am keeping her far from my other females.
Someone said if you have experience acclimating WC females you can get her eating.
I got her to eat about 10 days after getting her and she has been eating about every 8 - 10 days since. She is on young rats.
What I did is give her a hide box so she would be secure. Put her cage in a dim low traffic area and did not handle her much even though she is very tame and docile.
It also helps that I have a pet gerbil and I rub the rats on his saw dust before throwing them in. I don't know if she will be harder to breed when the time comes.

they do what THEY want.......

......you may get one and it will breed and lay 10 eggs......you may get 10 and get 0 eggs.........

they will breed but not all will lay probably....it takes time to have them get used to our climate change and to your room....

fact...............

sold 2 HUGE girls to a well known 30 year snake breeder....took 3 years till they laid for him..yet they laid for me every year......

fact.......some of my own miss a year now and then for no apparent reason.......

fact....you move them from one room to another...or even one cage to another ...even in the same room.........they can go off feed.....off breeding.......maybe start breeding.....start eating.....

they do what they want......

I do know this.....IF you buy NO girls you will get NO eggs.......

get a bunch of girls.....baby captives or wilds.....even big wilds....better chance a big wild girl will lay this year than a 04' baby wild one...or even a baby captive......right?......

.........takes time........

good luck....have fun...........

JY

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.........12 days and counting.............oops.........

yep.......I did that too.............

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I love it! I never thought of using the bottom of a 2-liter for a hatchling tub!
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Wait.. they don't make those kind of 2-liters anymore do they? ??

I haven't used them for about 10-12 years, and they don't make them like that anymore (at least I never see them anymore).
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Chad Bachman

they don't make them / use them anymore do they???

I don't drink soda/ pop.......

these were given to me 14 years ago by a friend who obviously did drink alot of soda........

he gave me a BIG stack...and I still got them.........LOL..

balls tend to act stupid in them though.......so I turn them over and they lay inside......works just as good.......

have fun

JY
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.........12 days and counting.............oops.........

yep.......I did that too.............

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Search the forums!

There was a BIG discussion on this over the summer.

I know the search button is up there.. above the messages.. lonely.. unused...
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Search button magic!
http://forums.kingsnake.com/viewarch.php?id=546992,546992&key=2004

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

First, I want to say I am not an expert when it comes to breeding Wild Caught Female Ball Pythons. I wanted to get that out of the way first.
Like you, I was questioning the idea of purchasing WC adult Female Ball pythons to add to my already "functioning" colony of Ball Pythons.
I started asking questions. Which lead me to ask even more quesitons. This is what I have uncovered so far....
Recent imported females that come into the country during normal breeding seasons, will either be, A.) Gravid already, or B.) cycled. If these females are cycled, placed in a cage with a breeding size male, there is a good chance that she can become gravid. The ones that come in the country gravid, are... already gravid and can not be bred to a capitve male. These same females, then during following years, do not cycle or produce.
From my limited research on this topic, I have uncovered more information regarding WC females....
That it takes them up to FIVE years to cycle in captivity.
Some take less, some take more. Like another poster metioned, these animals will do what they will do.
But, as an investement, and I'm sure that is the reason for your inquiry.. is it a wise investment to purchase a WC female Ball for the PURPOSE of using her as a breeder during the next 12 months? My answer is... NO, it would not be a wise investment.
You can purchase 4 to 8 hatchling female balls, raise them up to breeding size and produce eggs, before a WC would cycle in captivity.
With this said, yes there has been WC females bred in captivity that don't fit this APB. But we are talking one out of a thousand? five thousand? You like the odds? I didn't.
I invested in CB females, hatchlings, sub adults, and adults.
When it comes to investments, I don't like to gamble.
I welcome any comments or suggestions regarding this topic.
Thank you

The CB are a much better bet that is why I bought 5 CB females and only one WC. I just liked her because she had a nice stripe going all the way down her back and I took a gamble to see what would happen and to see if she would breed eventually. She was also pretty docile and had a nice golden yellow coloration to her. I was pretty surprized to see her eating so I would be even more surprized to see her breed.