Reptile & Amphibian Forums

books or anything out there on breeding bloods?..I have bred live bearing snakes the past few years and this will be my first year attempting bloods...I have seen lots of "action" so far and I just want to be ready...My main concern is a nesting box...Do I just put a large tub of sphagnum in the enclosur with her?...How do I know when?

Terry

Hey,
You can keep the female separated from the male, once she is known to be gravid. Once her post ovulation shed has taken place, which is the same as prelay shed, you can put a container filled with sphagnum moss into the cage. She will most likely use it to lay her egg's in it. I have had females lay egg's however, right on top of news paper with no ill effects to the egg's. The egg's have hatched out just fine and the paper does not cause harm to the egg's. Once egg's are layed the egg's are removed from the female and are set up in an artificial medium inside of an incubator. Egg's can take any where from 57-68 days to hatch, depending on the temperature. I hatch egg's out at 89 degrees Fahrenheit. Females will drop egg's at 24-40 days post ovulation give or take. Best of luck!
-Angel
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In life you can fall many times, but you're only a failure, if you don't try to get back up!
Evil Canevil

Hey Terry

Everything Angel said is dead on. Sometimes it can be hard to catch when a female blood ovulates, but my female always refuses food once she has. Then you just wait for her to shed and start counting days. My blood gets real restless right before laying I can usually see her circling around in the nest box like she is trying to get comfortable then she will lay with in the next 48 hours or so. I dont know of any good books on breeding bloods, but the Barkers wrote a pretty detailed article about it about 10 years or so ago in reptiles magazine. The next time Chris K. is here I can have him take it with him and you can read it if you want.
My pair is always hooked up this time of year as well but she never ovulates until late winter early spring, So I would keep introducing them until you are sure she is gravid.
Chris

I knew I could count on someone in here...*L*...I'll keep y'all posted...I should have some cool black headed blacks if all goes well...

Terry