1. can adults be kept together and only seperated during breeding? like if I had 3 males and 3 females, could the males all be kept together and the same for the females, and when ready to breed can I pair them up?
2. how many different females can I pair up with a single male? I know I can't do it at the same time, but can I pair two of them up, then take out that male and put him with a different female and keep going? How does that affect the outcome of getting a good set of eggs? Does it go down the more females you pair him up with? Any info is appriciated. Thanks.
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Breeding Questions
cyn
Jan 13, 2006 06:38 PM
Replies (2)
thebigsquease
Jan 13, 2006 06:55 PM
It is best to keep each animal in it's own enclource. It isn't very wise to house numerous animals together. Main reason, is health issues. If one is sick or ill, then all will be. Feeding would be a nightmare. This day and age, it's simple to go to the local Walmart and buy some nice large rubbermaid containers to house each animal, so you can maintain it's health and feeding.
As for breeding males to females. It depends on the male. Some will breed longer then others. Some males are better then others, some produce more sperm then others, and so on. You will have to monitor their activity, and keep a close eye on the pairs.
raintree
Jan 14, 2006 06:57 AM
I agree with the other response that it's better (for health reasons) to house your snakes individually.
As for pairing up the animals. You can pair the male with as many females as are ready to breed. But on my part, I like to pair the male with a female multiple times to increase my chances of a successful mating. So this limits the time I generally have during breeding season to make all my pairings happen. For this reason, I don't usually pair a male with more than 3-5 females any given year.
Also, I find that when I pair up the animals I'll observe lots of mating behavior (locking up) for the first 2 or three days. Then it stops. At this point I remove the male, give him a couple of days off, then pair him up with another (or the same) female. This way the mating behavior continues with only small breaks between pairings.
Hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Dana Larsen
Raintree Herpetoculture
