Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do female balls wag their tail and evert the scent glands prior to courting??I just put a small group together and one of the females was dragging her scent glands and wagging her tail all over the place, while the male seemed to "chase" her around...

Is this normal?
Please don't just tell me to read the book...I've bred Boas and let me tell you...They didn't read the book!!...I just some opinions for people who know whats up...

Thanks, Terry

I had a few of my females do that last year.... the tail wagging thing....

I was told it was bad, and that it means they are not receptive...
BUT
every female that did it took and laid healthy eggs.... lol
SO
I'm not sure!
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1.0 gorgeous spider ball python
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5.20 normals
Blazingreptiles.comup & running!

I have never seen breeding follow soon after the behavior you are describing. I think the female is saying - "get away."

However, as the previous poster mentioned, I do not think it means the female will not take this season - rather that she's not ready YET. Give her a couple of weeks or a month and stick her in with the male again, you may get an entirely different response. I have also had females respond that way to a particular male but be receptive when I stuck another boy in.

Christy

Actually I have had female lock up within 24 hours of seeing this behavior , and have seen it MANY times , so I think it is safe to say that it is possible that the behavior can mean both "get away" or "bring it on".... I don't think all animals behave the same , human's don't that's for sure, so why should animals be any different ? I think it is a bad idea to judge things as a whole based on a few instances ... Anyway my point is that I have had many sucessful breedings following the female's tail swishing so I don't think to see that behavior is neither good or bad! Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles...

Well, I guess time will tell.

When I made my first attempt at breeding years ago, my big female was wagging, voiding, etc, every time the boy was introduced. I was all excited because to me it LOOKED LIKE she must be wanting to breed. But, there were no hook ups. When I emailed Ralph about it, he told me that this behavior often meant a girl was not ready. I assume his statement was based on more than an isolated observation.

Since then, Ralph's input has held true for me. However, as you said, not all animals behave the same way. I'm also sure that an experienced or assertive male would be more likely to gain a hook up with a female even if she was not that hot on the idea.

So, I gave the best input I knew to give. Thanks for the additional info on your experiences.

Christy

I had the tail wag last year from one of my females and no lock up or eggs either. This year is a different story she put on more weight and has locked up a few times already. So the jury is still out on this one, could be a good sign or a bad sign, but best to keep trying which is what I did just in case.
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

I've noticed 2 different types of tail wagging, sometimes she will aggressively thrash her tail which I would agree means she's not interested , yet other times the females will "softly" wag her tail in shorter strokes and put out musk on the cage floor as they are swiching their tail , it's these times that I often see copulation within hours of seeing her strut her stuff.. Both would be considered types of wagging ,one a more aggressive type the other a more subtle style, both with generally different results, that's how I see it anyways! Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles.

I posted this same thing about a month ago. She was the only one out of several breeders that knew what this actually was. I thought it was my male not putting out, but 2 days later he locked up with another female. That female does it everytime I put her in there and the male always backs off.

Thank You all soo much...That is the kind of response I really wanted...I'll pull her out and try again in a week or two...

Thanks Again, terry

It is called "cloacal gaping" and is a sure sign of interest by the female.
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Then is it the male that "doesn't like loose women" (LOL) ...and that is perhaps why some aren't copulating when this is seen?

Not so much a shy male...just a tad lazy ...since he knows it's "a sure thing".

...just a thought.

A friend of mine told me he saw this(about two weeks ago),and that pair has bred since then.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

The same behavior is witnessed in boas.. Females have 2 scent glands stored where a males hemi would be located... When a female "wants it" she will cruise the cage whiping her "stuff" all around, it's a pheromone thing.. I wouldn't pull her away from the male, be PATIENT, sometimes in not love at first site.. Take care.