Reptile & Amphibian Forums

okay let me know how my aim is. for the most part i saw that you need a cage for breeding almost as long as the female. when not breeding they dont need anything speaical you can just use the plastic containers but still a decent size, is this right so far? for heating from what i was reading im planning on getting a space heater and keeping the temp around 85 and having a heat pad on one side making it a few degrees hotter. when winter comes along everything will drop slowly about 10 degrees, how are we looking so far? now a question i was seeing a few diffrent answers on was when to put the male and female into there breeding encloser. do you do it before or after lowering the temp? or is right after you bring the temp up? as for feeding i was reading while they are seperated the females needs to be feed weekly and the male only every other week. when do i need to stop feeding them around (before the temp drop, before i put them together, when the temp starts to rise)???? sorry got all the questions but you all are such a help to me!

I'm going to throw out a few opinions here, but won't completely answer everything you're wanting to know.
- I personally wouldn't trust aaspace heater to dependably warm my snakes. They tend to fluctuate, and their thermostats are over-run and can malfuntion - roasting your animals. I just wouldn't leave the house at all with a space heater on. I'd invest in more reliable heat sources, such as Ceramic Heat Emitters, Radient Heat Panels, or properly connected Heat Tape. Use with good Thermostats. Your cages, and heat sources should be higher in priority than breeding.
- I'd have your boas in cages large enough for them to spend their entire lives in, and then put the male into the females cage during the breeding season. Putting both into a new cage may be too much of a change for the female to feel comfortable enough to breed.
- Your question on when to put them together may not be able to be answered because some people "cool" there snakes, and some do not (I don't).
All in all, you have another 6-7 months to do research before the next breeding season starts, unless your thinking of getting on it now, which is pretty late IMO
I really learned alot from the Boaphiles website (think tank section). I re-read many times each year for refreshers. Keep good notes on all that you notice in your own breeing trials so you can go back and see what has worked, and what has not. Good luck to you man.


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--aka DMOG68

The cage is very important all year long. The cage needs to be big enough to let the snake get some excersie in or else you run the risk of a snake not strong enough to give birth and becomes impacted with babies (snake death sentence).
The second is the heating. I sometimes use space heaters in my snake room but only to bring the room temp up into the 70's during the coldest days of the year (I live in FL so it is not normally an issue) But heat should be provided with in the cage to keep the cage at specific temps, not the entire room. The hot spot should be about 95 degrees and the cool end in the low 80's. Exact heat and temps are super important for your snakes and can easily be monitored by a cheap indoor outdoor thermometer ($6.95 at walmart). I don't let the temps drop by 10 degrees for the winter. There is a natrual drop that comes with winter but I actually increase my heat output then to keep the temps about the same. I use light cycles to bring my snakes into season and the lower winter humidty that is also a natrual change. Too low of temps will make a sick snake.
Good job in reading up on the basics.
I hope some of this helps
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

I'm impressed man! You did very well!

You answered the 'basic' questions yourself, AND learned and now know more than most 'pet owners' out there!

People will be more than willing to help and converse with you now mostly because they are discussing knowledge you both share, and exchanging opinions and versions of each persons experience.

The cooling or 'cycling' is something lots of people do, and others don't, and still do well. This is one of those things that come from experience. I did excellent one year without cooling, and very poorly the following year using this same technique.

Best wishes with your endeavors, and if I were you, I would probably 'collect' and raise some nice het albino and het striped albino females, then, almost when they are ready to breed, you can pick up a young adult striped albino male to do the job.

Take care, Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

okay thanks everyone... now for all you that dont change your temp all year AND ACTUALLY HAVE SUCCEDED, what do you keep ur temp at (in hot and cold spot)? also what heat source do you use? okay now i have researched and found out what these things meen but its all from a point of view from people that have a better concept of the words than me. so can someone explain in some basic terms what courtship, gravid, POS and ovulation meen in beginners terms... because when im reading all the posts i get lost when those words come up haha... sorry for the stupid question but with those word meenings all the posts will be 99% cleared up for me! thanks!

"courtship, gravid, POS and ovulation meen in beginners terms"

Courtship= foreplay...fooling around,male priming the female for breeding(looks like breeding)

Gravid= pregnant

Ovulation= eggs being released, moving, becoming ready to be fertilized

POS= Post ovulation shed, is used to guesstimate when babies will arrive. Average gestation is 105 days after this post ovulation shed
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Davey Giltner

THANKS!! now almost everything is clear to me!