Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in Calgary, Alberta. I have had BRB’s now for a little short of three years. I started with one and of course was hooked. Recently I purchased an adult female to hopefully breed with a gorgeous big male I have had now for about two years and I guess his age at around 7 ish due to his large head. I also have a baby female and another female the first of my collection who is approaching three years in age and just a great snake. I keep all my snakes in separate enclosures that are heated with heat lights, substrate is wood shavings, a large water dish, and a hide box of damp moss, and they get misted once a day with warm water. Anyway, the new large female I have was, I am sure, wild caught. I was told she would not take f/t food but was able to get her on f/t ¼ lb bunnies in the first week. She ate for a month with no problems and then I decided to start cooling, well the weather started to get cold and thus so did the basement and the enclosures I keep her and the rest of the snakes in. After this cooling of temperatures started she decided to have nothing to do with food and this was a little over a month ago. Now, My first question to you is , Is she ovulating? I put her in with my male (who just finished a big meal) and he doesn’t seem to be interested in her. I was planning on leaving them together for about three more weeks then try to warm the enclosure back up again by increasing the wattage of bulb that I use and the number of hours it is on from 9 back to 12. I was hoping upon doing this it may trigger their reproductive instincts. Does all of this sound way out to lunch or am I on the right track? Should I be concerned with her not eating and when do I start offering her food again before or after they are warmed back up? Sorry for such a long post, I appreciate any help you can offer me.

..I think you are generally on the right track. My adults often go off feed while they are being cooled. The females usually eat very heavily as soon as I warm them back up. My males usually stay off feed from the start of cooling until several months later after they have been warmed up and then mated with the females. In addition to the cooling you may need to consider the photoperiod. It may be that their breeding is triggered by decreased daylight as much or more than we think it is by the cooling. I do not think that your snake is ovulating now. BRBs do not often have a big ovulatory midbody bulge like many other boids. When I have seen my BRBs with a bulge it is about the time I warm them up or a few weeks later. The males usually have already mated with them several times before this occurs. If I was you I would keep them cool another couple weeks and then warm them back up. I would introduce the male into the different females cages every couple of days. If they breed let them breed for as long as they want except to try the male with another female. Watch for the females to shed or for changes in the weather. If either of these occur get the male in with the female right away.
Good Luck,
Jeff

>>I live in Calgary, Alberta. I have had BRB’s now for a little short of three years. I started with one and of course was hooked. Recently I purchased an adult female to hopefully breed with a gorgeous big male I have had now for about two years and I guess his age at around 7 ish due to his large head. I also have a baby female and another female the first of my collection who is approaching three years in age and just a great snake. I keep all my snakes in separate enclosures that are heated with heat lights, substrate is wood shavings, a large water dish, and a hide box of damp moss, and they get misted once a day with warm water. Anyway, the new large female I have was, I am sure, wild caught. I was told she would not take f/t food but was able to get her on f/t ¼ lb bunnies in the first week. She ate for a month with no problems and then I decided to start cooling, well the weather started to get cold and thus so did the basement and the enclosures I keep her and the rest of the snakes in. After this cooling of temperatures started she decided to have nothing to do with food and this was a little over a month ago. Now, My first question to you is , Is she ovulating? I put her in with my male (who just finished a big meal) and he doesn’t seem to be interested in her. I was planning on leaving them together for about three more weeks then try to warm the enclosure back up again by increasing the wattage of bulb that I use and the number of hours it is on from 9 back to 12. I was hoping upon doing this it may trigger their reproductive instincts. Does all of this sound way out to lunch or am I on the right track? Should I be concerned with her not eating and when do I start offering her food again before or after they are warmed back up? Sorry for such a long post, I appreciate any help you can offer me.

Thanks for the quick reply and the info. I have cut the light period from twelve to nine hours in the day and will probably try to warm them up around Christmas. Hopefully all will go well. I will try to keep you posted. Thanks again.