.. I'm closely interested in the effects of specific temps and planned feeding (as opposed to regular feeding) on breeding behaviour in Boa, especially BCC. Check this out...
This beautiful Pokigron female didn't breed this last season.. she looked large enough, though something about her head-size and overall proportions suggested she was sub-mature. Now she's almost two meters and just over 4KG.. though I only gave her average meals 9 times the entire year prior to the first of this month, she had, and did maintain, good weight, and she shed twice. Plus I did not feed her the entire month of August and the first part of September, she did not act especially hungry. And here I see sub-optimum results from Summer ovulations in BCC.. and didn't want her to gain that extra little weight too soon.
About 3 weeks back she entered a state-change (hard to describe, but different behaviour, darker colors and a slight swell) when we had a cool spell (near 60 at night). I opened the window near her cage and removed supplemental heat, allowing her body temps to drop into the 70s at night for the duration and keeping her daytime highs under 85deg. She adopted a strong hunting posture.
After eating twice in 10 days she again rested, but darkened more and began a more noticeable swell. I gave her 8 hours of day-time-only belly heat (50/50 morning and late evening) and introduced the male. Courtship (with probable intromission) began immediately. Three days ago she was in front of her cage again looking for food (with the male riding her). I placed the male in a separate cage in a cool, quiet corner and gave the female a small meal. She ate quickly and retreated to her resting position.
Yesterday evening late I replaced the male.. their temps were just over 80deg when I checked late, this morning early (before 6:00AM) they were copulating (I closely confirmed this) and their body temps had dropped a couple of degrees. I turned off the supplemental heat so their temps would be stable as long as possible (temp rise will many times interrupt intromission in BCC). They are still involved now at nearly 10:15AM.. I carefully took this record photo, (the female is acting skittish).
She is now obviously swollen (in the right way) and has darkened considerably in just the last 30 hours.. no shed-cycle is visible yet.
Valentine's Day Suriname redtails?
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Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com
"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus
