Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi guys and gals! my name is scott and i am new to this site. i have a ball python and a apricot pueblan. i have never breed before and i am interested in giving it a try. i would like to become as educated as possible before trying it though. does any one have any suggestions on some ggod books for first time breeders to get started? any other advise would be greatly appreciated, like good snakes to breed for first timers. i was kind of thinking about milks, kings, corns, or normal bp's to start. thank you for your help.

First get an incubator. If you really want to have an easy time breeding, try a live bearer like a garter snake. The hardest thing about breeding is the incubation and raising the neonates. If you wait until you have eggs before getting an incubator , you can forget it, likewise if you wait until you have hatchlings before you get cages, and a source for suitable food. Most snakes breed in response to cooling temperatures and changes in lighting. Lowering the amount of daylight during the winter is enough for most. I would suggest breeding a snake that you are familiar with and love, like your ball python. Not the easiest but also not the hardest.

bryanna i am in pretty much the same position as you, and rick, well you seem like you know what you are doing. i have a brooks kingsnake and i havent bred before and i would like to breed her, but i just need all the facts i can get, i mean, how do you keep kings from eating eachother while mating?
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i have one Brooks Kingsnake, hopefully breeding in the next couple of years! yaaahhhh, only if i can find a male though lol, but im still looking for a male lol

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent cannibalism amoungst breeding kingsnakes. First keep them all well fed, Second try to breed snakes that are about the same size, although with some species the female or male is naturally larger. Put them together only for a short period, if breeding behavior is not observed after an hour or two, seperate them. Put the male in with the female, not the other way around. Usually in the wild it is the male that enters the females territory to mate. Also, there is a simple test that you can do to see if the female is ready to mate, in the females enclosure, rub the female with your hand vibrating slightly. If the female is ready to breed she will not reject this contact, if she isn't ready, she will push against you with a coil and move away.When you first put the male and the female together you can observe this same interaction between them.