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i followed the rules, cooled them separately, introduced them on coolest period and warmed them up. they have been coiled together ever since but cannot say i withnessed copulation because their cages are not in the house, but in a garage elsewhere. the lights and heat was as supposed to be. they are 6 feet teh boy and 7 the girl, all over 3 years or age.

so after 3 months i decided to place a small rat on the fartheest side of cage so if any is hungry they can go for it. when i check 5 min they were constriccting each other, each biting each others head. luckily i always haev a dropper with whisky handy and a singly drop made them untangle in a coupleof second. they look fine except for a couple drops of blood.

what does this mean? breeding seasopn over? should i separate them? can i try later on?

any help or suggestions?

thanks

You shouldn't put food in a cage with two snakes.

>>i followed the rules, cooled them separately, introduced them on coolest period and warmed them up. they have been coiled together ever since but cannot say i withnessed copulation because their cages are not in the house, but in a garage elsewhere. the lights and heat was as supposed to be. they are 6 feet teh boy and 7 the girl, all over 3 years or age.
>>
>>so after 3 months i decided to place a small rat on the fartheest side of cage so if any is hungry they can go for it. when i check 5 min they were constriccting each other, each biting each others head. luckily i always haev a dropper with whisky handy and a singly drop made them untangle in a coupleof second. they look fine except for a couple drops of blood.
>>
>>what does this mean? breeding seasopn over? should i separate them? can i try later on?
>>
>>any help or suggestions?
>>
>>thanks
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1.0 Peruvian red-tail boa
1.0 Argentinian black and white tegu
2.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1 White's tree frog
1.1 "assorted" geckoes ???

or is it Butthead? When feeding two obviously hungry animals together it's almost guaranteed they will end up wrapping one another. Even when feeding separately just the remaining scent on one or the other snake can cause the same thing to happen.

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Derek Roberts
Sonoran Reptile Breeders
sonoranreptile@cox.net

Don't worry about any sarcastic comments that may have been posted. we all learn the hard way some of the time, the snakes should be fine, just check their mouths and see if they can close them properly and make sure there are no teeth poking out or anything that looks wrong.
this should make you understand how the smell of a food iten can make boas react, if that smell was on you then you might have had the snakes holding onto you and biting like that. just seperate them when feeding and be carefull about putting them back together after feeding as they still might smell the rat on each other and have another go at it.

thats why most of us find it easier to keep the snakes seperated all the time, its just easier for feeding etc.

good luck

steve

thanks.. i was expecting sarcastic comments anyway. i always keep m,y snakes separated but i was trying to breed these and even though i knew they were hungry i never saw them on their own and i knew that they was no way of separating them against their will. but i had read about putting food the on the other side of cage....

well.. let me tell you... it didn't work. they are still cuddled up and peacefull now that the food is gone. i don't know how i'm goignt o separate them... i'd like to separate them, feed them something and get them back togther after a day or two but i don't knwo how i am going to so this...

Simple as that!!

Good luck!

Brett

I have seen pictures where a boa ate another boa completely, Im not sure if it was because they were fed together butit is possible. Im glad you had the balls to pull them off eachother.
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True Redtails

balls i don't have ... i've got guts though.. thanks...

and didn't have to pull them off. that would have been impossible for they are very strong. i don't remember where but i had read that in cse of snake bites ( especially constrictors) its useless pulling for the snake will bite and grip harder. all you need is a few drops of alchohol around the mouth. it really works. snakes hate it and a couple of drops are not harmfull ( compared to very forcefull pulling or using a screwdriver to open the mouth!!!).

the problem was to separate them for feeding. i'm sure you know hw strong boas can be, now multiply that by 2, for pulling against each other.

well now its done, they were separated and they ate a medium rat each. now where do i stand in reagrds of breeding? shall i put them together again ( obviously won't feed them) or now its done for the season and i'll hope they have breed?

?? thanks

.. Breeding Boas is best attempted long-term, not just by trying to place them together every once in a while and see what happens. There's a good explanation of this in my website in the How-To section titled, 'Breeding Boas, Theory and Practice' or something like that. It should answer a lot of your questions.

I want to jump in here and ad my two cents worth to some of the advice and criticism you've gotten in this thread.. Boas aren't big and dangerous snakes, but if you aren't comfortable handling them in all situations and don't feel you have the strength or other resources to take care of what may arise when keeping a Boa you should consider finding a home for them with someone more capable in those areas.

Plus.. I hear no end to stories of illness, accident and death of boas kept out in the garage or in the barn.. unless you have a very nice insulated garage free of drafts, high temps, freezing temps, ants, racoons and pit bull dogs.. you need to get those boas somewhere appropriate where they can get the individual care and close attention they need for a good quality life.

And in defense of some of the rough comments you recieved your goof was a very basic one, discussed many times in most every snake forum and the cause of many injuries and deaths to captive exotics.. Things like when, where, what and how to feed a boa should be inquired about and learned prior to obtaining the animal and way before planning to make more.
Rio Bravo Reptiles

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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

Sorry I did not mean to imply that you physically had balls, I guess guts would be better. As far as breeding goes I see no reason why you should not continue, of course I would watch them just in case. Good luck
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True Redtails

As much as I could go in another direction with this, i'm going to stay on the sort of nice side.

This is a beginners mistake. Are you sure that you've kept these boas long enough that breeding them is a good idea? I mean if your making a simple mistake like this with just the two are you really ready to deal with the 20-40 baby boas? I know its seems like a great idea to make baby snakes, but once you produce them it takes a lot of care, and if everything isn't perfect with the litter you need to know how to deal with it.

I say seperate them for the year and maybe you'll be a little more ready for next year.