Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have been cooling off my 2 boas for a little over a month now. i am planning on introducing them mid dec. this is my first attempt ever to breed snakes. do i put him in her cage or her in his cage? i have read and been told both. also am i supposed to leave them in the cage together for days , weeks, months or hours? any advise would be appreciated...

ha, I just got done writing a very similiar response just a few days ago.

To sum it up, Boas seem to be very easy to breed, almost anything will work. Throwing the male into the females cage has been reported to have success, or the other way around, putting the female into the males cage works also.

Same with cycling them, some people do cycle the boas, others dont and have the same success.

Long story short, Boas seem easy to breed, you just have to find what will work for you. Trial and error.

Sorry if this is vague, hope it helps.

I seen some books writen that in order to breed boas successfully , it's better to use as least 2 males with 1 female . It's called mutilple males. The books writen , it's a point to breed boas succefully but not necessary . I don't why multiple males is important for breed some BOIDAE species . As I know , some species of python will getting serious combat if you placed 2 males in 1 cage . I am wonder about this recommender. What do you think about this ? Will you really place 2 males in a females's cage white you are breeding boas ?

thanks .

i have the book "captive husbandry and propagation of the boa constrictors and related boas" and i believe this book offers the use of two males to stimulate breeding as an idea. if i am not mistaken this method is used more in boa constrictor constrictor which tend to be more difficult to sucessfully breed. while not as nessicary for BCI, it may be a way to get not so interested males to get the deed done. my personal opinion would be to watch for behavioral issues between males as a precaution while using this method.

I have not read the other reply to your message yet, written by Jay, but Im sure it's much of the same I am about to say.

using 2 males is recommended for many reasons. More success breeding being the bottom line.

However, it depends what you are trying to do. A lot of breeders that own/breed high end morphs, cannot afford to use more than one male for the soul reason that they need to know who the real father of the litter is.

Take for example, you use a normal female. breed it to 2 males, one being a normal, the other being snow (anery x albino). there is a very big difference in the price of the babies. If the babies were normal, they would run for anywhere from 80-150 a peice, depending on looks. However, if the snow male were the father, those babies would all be 100% Double-heterozygous for snow, which cost 1000-1500 a sexual pair. Being double-hets, you dont know by looking at them, you just have to know what the parents are.

It's called selective breeding. By knowing exactly what the parents were can make an enormous difference. Unless you are using 2 males of the same breed, then it doesnt matter, such as 2 albino males, or 2 common males. But once you throw 2 different genes in there, it is critical to know which male is the father, unless it is a visible morph such as Arabasque, Hypo, Motley, etc. These snakes are said to be co-dominant traits.

Taking an F1 (first generation) hypo male, bred to a normal female, should, in theory, give a litter that consists of 50% normal-50% Hypo babies. The hypos would still technically be considered "hets" because of the way the biology works, but they are visibly different from a normal boa.

Hope this helps
does it sound right Jay? haha