Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On November 5th 2004 I put together my only breeding size pair.
I witnessed breeding that day and the next. On November 7th I took out the original male and put in my BlackBack, mating was witnessed on November 8th.
She then started "laying cold" or so I thought. I figured the breeding didn't take because she is still eating. I didn't witness any breedings after that. So yesterday I was cleaning cages and I put the BlackBack in with the female and continued cleaning. Well I forgot I had put the BlackBack in her cage and thought he had escaped. Then I finally realized where he was, well when I lifted up the hide,there they were going at it again so I left him in there.
Is 3 months of breeding off and on heard of? I have Dr. Sewards DVD and have watched it numerous times so I thought I was doing it right! Has anyone else encountered the same? Any thoughts on what possibly may be going on?? Thanks for any help-Casey

For what it's worth, mine hooked up for the first time in the middle of Sept., then again in Dec. and last time was two days ago. That's three times in four months. Neither has had anything to eat and she looks like she's gettin' hefty.

I to have had my pastel 1200 grams and 2600 gram female together since September. They have bred now several times the last time being about a week ago. She has shed twice and before each shed she looked very large was laying kinda side ways, at least to me and very swollen, however she didn't lay cold.

Now after the last breeding she is laying cold, but is now eating mice when she was a rat eater, she won't touch those rite now, and she went from 2600 down to 2189 now back up to 2230 and has had 4 mice in the last week.

It's very frustrating all the temps are rite the humidity is rite, she is alone has a hide box, has a nest spot, but no official ovualtion, two sheds and no eggs 30 days later. Oh well, from what I'm gathering from everyone else is that most everyone breeds the full three to four months of winter. Then some females eat, then they ovulate, and then lay eggs. And apparently pre-ovulation shedding is normal as follicles get larger. Best of luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us

I cooled down one of my females for a month. Put in a male and they ahve been breeding on and off for the last 3 weeks (probably about 7 seperate times. Now, I don't have to do this for 3 or 4 months do I? And if thats the case how do I know when she is ovulating? Don't want to waste the males energy. I too have a couple of well known videos but I guess I'm an idiot because I feel like I'm more confused after watching them. Using ultrasound equipment? Ya, because I have a couple of those in my basement just waiting for my females.
Can someone in idiot talk please explain to me the whole process step by step. Once layed I understand but all of this timing stuff is very confusing to me. I just want babies! BP babies that is! Thanks!

-Bill

LOL.....

This is my first time breeding BPs as well. I understand the excitement and frustration. I just plan to keep introducing/reintroducing the male to the female until she ovulates. Meanwhile learn as I go. From what I've seen so far, this male usually will copulate then loose interest after. Then I would separate them for a few days and try it again. That usually works. So, I'll just keep doing this unit she ovulates. Meanwhile I'll keep track of her behavior. Now, she's still interested in feeding so I just give her small rats for maintenance. I'm not going to stress out about this whole breeding thing... not as fun that way. Just going to try and provide the right environment and let it roll. LOL. Good luck guys and enjoy! Hope '05's good to everyone.

Eric

Sounds like your on the right track.

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www.trueimagereptiles.com

I pulled this off of Ralphs website. This seems about as simple as it can get. I follow this within reason. I drop my temps in Oct....but my temps don't always perfectly match what Ralph does. I have windows in my reptile room, so I don't mess with lights it is naturally lite (which I love). Seems to be working great.....

Jim Perron
pythonpassionreptiles.com

Below is Ralph speaking:

you ................I start breeding in October............in the first week of October I begin the breeding temps...............and I do it like this..............my heat in the off season is always set at 95 degrees...........and my heat in the breeding season is also set at 95 degrees .............I breed from October till the end of March............that entire time I set the day time temps to 95 degrees and the night time temps to 82 degrees................this is the temp of the heat tape.........right on the tape.............95 day...............82 night..............that's it.............now what I also do is manipulate the lights...............my very first night drop in October is set to start at 7 pm.............that is when the HELIX switches to the 82 degree night time drop................and that is when ALL the lights go out in the room ..............I do this for a few weeks...................then as the winter days get shorter .............I turn the lights and the day heat off at 6 pm...............the when "day light savings time" kicks in ..........I shut the heat and lights off at 5 pm......................5 pm is the final drop of light and heat .................I work my way down to this, and it stays that way until March 31st..................so basically my snakes are going into the 82 degree night time drop and the darkness at 5pm from the end of November until the end of March.............it's that simple.................and it is easy ................I just slowly bring the snakes into longer cooler nights...................in the off season they are used to 95 degrees 24/7...............lights on at 7 am and off at 9 pm.............at the height of breeding season .......November through March............the lights and heat are on at 7 am...................and off at 5 pm................so that is 10 hours of heat and light.................and 14 hours of night time temp 82 degree tape and darkness.................that's when the breeding happens..............at night................My actual air temps during the day in the room are around 80 to 82 degrees during breeding season and almost 88 to 90 degrees in the off season................my air temps at night during the breeding season are in the low 70's...............so at night ..........there is 70 to 75 degree air temp............82 degree heat tape temp............and 14 hours of darkness..............it works like a charm for me..................the best part is that at night when the lights go off and the heat drops down.............the entire room slowly gets cooler .............everything works perfect.................then in the morning when the lights come on and the heat tape turns up to 95 degrees..............the room slowly gets warmer..................it is noticeable to me...............and majorly noticeable to the ball pythons..............it's a season..............it's "making weather" in your own basement...............that will be another lesson..............."how to make cold fronts in your home".................the snakes go nuts for those. Now..............you want to know when I put my pairs together...............it's real simple..................In the first week of breeding temps ................I let all the pairs stay alone .................I give them one week to feel what is going on in the room..................in that week the males and females get restless.................they know it is time to breed .................after that first week ...............I introduce the pairs...................and I keep breeding all the way till the end of March the next year ..................rotating the boys through the girls................the girls through the boys.................two boys through one girl ..................three girls with one boy ...............I do what ever it takes to "trigger" breeding .................sometimes it is as easy as putting a pair together and that's it.................but sometimes it takes a lot more patience on finding out what exactly makes certain males or females "tick".................thats the fun part!!...............I'm always aware of what my snakes are doing ...........I know who is breeding well and who ain't................I know what females are responding and which females are being "stuck up"..................I'm majorly aware of the size of the follicles in my girls that have been bred well ...............depending on the size of the follicles and the way the female is acting determines whether I need to even keep a male with her or not...............when a female is done..............she is done..............she has been bred well.................she starts to "lay cold" ( lays at the cool end of the cage, maybe even around her water bowl, this is when you can almost always feel big marble sized follicles in her, she is done!! ).............she ovulates......................she sheds...................and she lays eggs..........no need to "dud your male out" on a girl that is done..............use him on the girls who are still warming up during the day.........I also offer food to all the snakes at least twice a month............usually every week...............some eat.....some don't.............if they eat thats great..........they get a meal and some rest..........I rest them on the weekends or two days after a meal..............I also do not feed big meals.............meals during breeding season are smaller............because of the lack of belly heat at night............I have had ZERO problems doing this...............the females that eat bounce back much quicker after laying eggs................so anyway................that was a good five minutes worth of "inside info"...............I hope this helps some of you..............make sure you copy this journal entry ...............because it's a good one!!............