Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Male Brazilian I would like to breed. My male is about 2-3 years old. He is around 4 feet and almost 3 lbs. I would like to purchase an Adult Female for him, but I am at kind of a loss as to where to get one and if he is ready to breed. I found a Female, but i believe her to be wild caught as she is from one of the bigger suppliers. Why question is, if my male is ready to breed, is it too late to breed a female that i purchase this year or should i wait till next year? And if the female is wild caught, am I better off looking for a CB or is a Wild caught a good option also. I am not in a hurry to breed them, I am just wondering in which direction i should go. Thank you in advance to all that answer...

I've never brought a wild-caught animal in to my collection. I haven't purchased wild-caught because I prefer to support the captie breeding programs that are so well established now.

I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with bringing in a wild-caught animal. But, if I were going to do it, I would be sure to quarantine the animal for a while. Maybe someone else has an opinion on how long a quarantine should last.

If the wild-caught is in good shape, and the quarantine period is short, you may be able to breed her this year. However, I can't imagine it would be bery hard to find a captive-bred female who is breeder size. She will probably just be a bit more expensive.

Your male sounds like he could be a little small. If he did go this year, he'd certainly be on the small side for a breeder.

The worst that can happen is you get a female and try to match them up this year and it doesn't work. Just try again next year.

Good luck though,

Mike

agreed EXCEPT, IMO, 5 months is NOT long enough quarantine for a WC animal. In my colony breeding begins around mid February. I agree that you're better off with CBB female, just keep looking. I would allow a shorter quarantine for a CBB but even then 5 months is pushing it. I myself will probably be selling some of my breeder stock after next season, I have some new breeders coming up and will be ready for the 2007 season.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12.136 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (OK, I'm only keeping a few of the 136, just tickled pink with my production this year)
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Biscuit,
....When I started buying BRBs in the early 90s they were expensive. CB or WC were all mostly over $300. For a couple years all the importers listed every BRB they could get at $375. I waited patiently for them at that price too. The CB ones available were mostly small and most of them were very plain in comparison to CB BRBs on the market today. I started my Rainbow Boa breeding project with mostly imported WC animals because they generally had better coloration than most of the CB ones I saw for sale. I had reasonably good luck with imported BRBs. Most of them came with ticks which had to be eradicated. The ticks left scars but most of these scars cleared up with dozens of sheds over the years. Some of the imports had internal parasites and responded well to treatment with Flagyl and Panacur. If you do not have experience using these drugs you will need help from a veterinarian and that will add so much expense that I would think captive born animals would be a less expensive choice in the long run. None of the imported females I got produced babies the first year I had them. Most of them were stressed and underweight after import and had to be fed up for awhile. I think a quarantine needs to be many months long. I got a couple CB animals in august that I am considering taking out of quarantine in the next couple of months for breeding season. If your male BRB is your only boid and you are not personally attached to him then cutting the quarantine short is not a terrible idea. If you have other boids or are attached to the male BRB I would quarantine for at least several months. I would quarantine a CB animal for about as long as I would quarantine an import. The only exception to this would be for a CB snake straight from a small breeder that I knew was careful. Any snake, WC or CB should be especially suspect if it comes through any of the big facilities. The more boids that come and go through a collection or facility the greater the chances of IBD.
....If your male is 3 pounds he is large enough to be mature. If he is only 4 feet long he is probably not quite mature. If I was you I would be looking for a 4 foot or larger 2003 CB female BRB for your male for breeding at 5.5 feet in length 15 months from now. Long term planning is a good practice for keeping and breeding snakes.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>I have a Male Brazilian I would like to breed. My male is about 2-3 years old. He is around 4 feet and almost 3 lbs. I would like to purchase an Adult Female for him, but I am at kind of a loss as to where to get one and if he is ready to breed. I found a Female, but i believe her to be wild caught as she is from one of the bigger suppliers. Why question is, if my male is ready to breed, is it too late to breed a female that i purchase this year or should i wait till next year? And if the female is wild caught, am I better off looking for a CB or is a Wild caught a good option also. I am not in a hurry to breed them, I am just wondering in which direction i should go. Thank you in advance to all that answer...
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