Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, my first attempt at breeding my jungles was a no-go. I apparently did enough right to get my female to cycle though, and they were under the exact same set of conditions the entire time. I hate to write this male off as a bum (pictured below), but there was no interest whatsoever on his part. And here I was worried about the girl. =/ I found them together all the time, but as far as I know, they never copped at all.

Now, this pair was sold to me as adults, and I was a little suspicious as to why they'd never been bred. Obviously the girl is in working order. Is it safe to say that if the female cycled and they both went off feed, then I may indeed just have an unenthusiastic male on my hands? I didn't have another adult male to try the combat bit with, not that I was keen on that anyway. I've heard of males being "bad breeders", but nobody ever seems to elaborate.

Anybody have any experiences with freeloading bums like this? =)

Is this their first year that breeding was attempted? And what methods of enticing the male did you do? I mean, the best way is to get a freshly shed skin from female and put it in the male's cage so he can smell her and it should drive him crazy. Always pacing his cage for where this female he's smelling is. Then introduce them a half hour or so later. But with my jungles, the female is now 6 years old and the male is 5. Last year was my first attempt and I only witnessed one copulation, and she never ovulated. So this year I did exactly what I said above and I left them together all throughout the cooling period and they were locked up every other day for 2 months strait. And then she laid 11 eggs with 100% fertility. Snakes can be somewhat like humans, they need to "fool around" or "experiment" before they do what nature intended. Better luck next year man.
Josh

Yeah, I tried the shed thing but was advised the opposite; to use one of the male's sheds in hopes he would think another male was around. That was pretty much the only tricky thing I tried.

I'm sure I'm just being a blockhead. I came into this from breeding monitors, which breed pretty much constantly once you get them going. Just thinking I have to wait a whole year to adjust things and try again makes me shudder. =)

thanks,

AS

>>Yeah, I tried the shed thing but was advised the opposite; to use one of the male's sheds in hopes he would think another male was around. That was pretty much the only tricky thing I tried.
>>I'm sure I'm just being a blockhead. I came into this from breeding monitors, which breed pretty much constantly once you get them going. Just thinking I have to wait a whole year to adjust things and try again makes me shudder. =)
>>thanks,
>>AS

Whoever said not to put her skin in his cage isn't the best person to be getting advice from. Putting her skin in his cage is like giving a teenager a porno. It'll drive him nuts to be smelling her and not knowing where she is. He'll be pacing the cage looking. Then take him out and put him in her cage and he should be starting on seducing her. Try this next year if you're not fed up with them.

I didn't see you respond to wether or not this is the first year at attempting to breed. At any rate I can only offer my own experience. I kept a pair of Jungles on a soil based enclosure. I never witnessed copulation but I saw the male aroud the feamle quite a lot. Once I noticed the female changing habits I beagan researching temps and such. I had a hide box on the floor of the enclosure, and to my suprise one day I peeked in the box and there she was coiled around thirteen eggs. I imeadiatly set up my tempature probe inside the box which controlled a space heater in the room. I also mounted a flourescent light just outside the hide box to help maintain temps during the day. I misted the soil daily. It was quite interesting to see that sometimes the female would leave the eggs to explore the enclosure and the male would investigate and guard the eggs. Anyway the eggs looked quite shriveled and dry and I thought this was a waiste of time and then upon checking the hide box I saw several little heads peering at me from slits in the eggs. I was excited, all thirteen eggs hatched! I have to give credit to someone that gave me advice to let the female take care of the eggs and not to incubate. I later sold the pair and they bred again for the new owner but they incubated the eggs and had less than a 100% hatch rate. I would be patient, maybe next year is the year. Also do you maintain the pair together year round or not? I kept mine together, I've read many times to seperate. Good luck!

Yes, this was the first year I had them. I was told they'd never bred before. I do keep them separated, but I probably will house them together as soon as I get a cage big enough to ensure they won't be competing for resources. There seem to be many ways to skin a cat in regard to python breeding. Your story is one of the few "hands off" approaches I've heard. Thanks for the input.