Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have bred large amounts of rats in the past but I never really worried about the science of it. I mean lets be honest, ya throw em together and they do the rest but I am only going to be breeding enough to feed one snake now so I would like to get them going as fast as possible. So can anyone give me the estimated amount of days for gestation, weaning age of babies, all those things. Thanks for your age.

>>I have bred large amounts of rats in the past but I never really worried about the science of it. I mean lets be honest, ya throw em together and they do the rest but I am only going to be breeding enough to feed one snake now so I would like to get them going as fast as possible. So can anyone give me the estimated amount of days for gestation, weaning age of babies, all those things. Thanks for your age.

aaa
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "un-named"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
0.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"

Ditto.

Because my snake in the pic needs more food!!!

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Greg Holland
G&M HERPS
www.gmherps.com
gmherps@sbcglobal.net

>>Ditto.
>>
>>Because my snake in the pic needs more food!!!
>>
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>>Greg Holland
>>G&M HERPS
>>www.gmherps.com
>>gmherps@sbcglobal.net

Nice looking boa, whats the story on its bloodlines? Clint
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0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "un-named"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
0.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"

Breeder Females can be between 9 and 12 weeks for their first litter. Some of mine don't start until 15 weeks though. Gestation is normall 18-22 days from the initial mating. Females will drop between 8 and 17 pups per litter. At 10 days their eyes start to open.. their ears open at a week... they wean at 18 to 22 days old...you can seperate at 24 days old if you feed them softer foods like cereals and sunflower seeds for a week or so. At that point they should be quite used to solid foods and start growing very rapidly. The female will get pregnant again within 12 to 24 hrs of giving birth. Usually the male is trying to mate her again as she's giving birth. Its nothing to worry about.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

>>I have bred large amounts of rats in the past but I never really worried about the science of it. I mean lets be honest, ya throw em together and they do the rest but I am only going to be breeding enough to feed one snake now so I would like to get them going as fast as possible. So can anyone give me the estimated amount of days for gestation, weaning age of babies, all those things. Thanks for your age.

I often hold off breeding my females til they are 12 wks old. Pet people will wait even longer but I have not seen any detriment with younger. Some will just leave the girls in with dad or another mature male and they breed when they breed. When I have done that I have seen some get bred at 8wks or younger and thought it stunted their growth and made caring for the litter more of a struggle as they were growing and trying to make milk etc.
When I am starting a new group I will take 10-12 wk old girls and often a mature male. If I have time I may add a younger male (age group of the girls), but often they start slower.
Gestation is 21-24days.
I wean mine at 4 wks. Some wean younger but I like my weanlings to be as big as possible and just don't see that if weaned earlier. They end up playing catch up, and sometimes they simply don't thrive.
Mine, by four weeks are half again or double the size of those weaned younger. So, to some extent it will depend on what you need in sizes.
I do also feed off many at 2 weeks as they are 30-40 grams then and mouse size for my ratsnakes. So the remaining pups have loads of milk without overtaxing mom, who is bred back right after kindling.

All that said. Unless you buy an obviously pregnant mom you are going to have a socializing time when the group has to get used to each other before they breed. I never recommend putting adult, large rats together for breeding. Instead I say get smalls or mediums (typically smalls are 4 wks to about 8wks-12wks for mediums and let them grow together. In the long run you will get more rats out of them and you have a time to tame them to trust you.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron