Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Q#1: I finally got a couple of females that can breed. I watched the Dan and Colette's DVD and watched them check for sperm plugs. My male that I wanted to breed was born in March of this year but is almost 800g. I know he won't stop eating. Even though he is only 9 months old when should he start producing sperm plugs?

Q2: Watching the DVD one part that I had a tough part understanding was the Ovulation period of females. When they ovulate when are you supposed to introduce the male? Before, during or after?

I've only watched the DVD once and plan to watch it again but want to understand some parts more so I can follow it better.

Thanks
Bill

Watch it more..lol...watch the mating chapter a few times thats what your wanting to know.,,,thats just what i do and thats just my opinion,,,im not a pro by any means,,the more tips ya get from ppl the better.

Ovulation is the act of FERTILIZATION. If you introduce then, then the eggs will have nothing to be fertilized with. But its moot, because you'll NEVER get a female to ovulate without introducing a male and having courtship take place.

Ovulation is not fertilzation...ovulation is the act of an egg being released by the female from an ovary...or whatever the equivalent is in reptiles.
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Michael Enriquez

If you keep the temps the same and keep feeding them its status quo. If you want to breed him, stop feeding him and cycle him. Its up to you whether or not he produces sperm plugs. If you want to just keep feeding him and have him become a giant male but get no eggs, then that's up to you as well. LOL!

I was actually pondering this very thing today.

Thanks Jeff.
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3.12 Ball Pythons
0.1 Mutant Thayeri

Males can start producing sperm regargless of cycling but fertility may be increased by doing so. Fertility is not an absolute thing - quality of the sperm (numbers, morphology, motility) can vary particularly with a very young male.

A male MUST be placed with a female before ovulation so that sperm is present at the time of ovulation. Ovulation occurs and then fertilization. In other words, sperm can be present but if the female doesn't ovulate, fertilization can't occur. If for some reason the female doesn't ovulate, the ova regress (and thus become corpus luteum, ie luteal "bodies". It happens occasionally.

Bottom line is to have multiple matings before ovulation.

Good luck!
Scott J. Michaels DVM
Serpent City

...while it's quite rare, ovulation certianly can occur without male exposure. My original female did it not once but twice, with the second occurence resulting in fertile eggs and hatchlings (suspected parthenogenesis). In fact there's a current case of suspected parthenogenesis being investigated (see "Lava" in the BP ads). I'm following this with the owners now. And it's happened with other python species as well.

So never say never.

SJM

Can you please post a link for the DVD you are refering to. I would like to buy it but need to know where to look. Thanks Andrew Federico

Took a while but I knew I had seen the name before...Now I gotta get that dvd. Andy Federico