Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, I have a pair of 04 vbb's and plan on breeding them next year. Anyone have any have any tips?

How long should I brumate them and at what temperature?

I bred them several years in a row, and never formally brumated them.

I treated them much like I did my pythons, just giving them a month or so of lowered night time temps (high 60's)
Eventually, I just didn't do anything other than introduce them in the fall,and they still produced fertile clutches with good hatch rates.

Only tip that I feel is of any real value is with the incubation of the eggs.
They seem to be a bit thicker shelled, and through my own experiences and discussions with others, the use of sphagnum moss around the eggs seemed to help, due to acidity or something like that.

when I noticed one or two pipping, i'd give them another 10 hours and any that didn't pip on their own, i'd manually cut small slits.

hope that is of some use to you

Oh, I should also add.

Blue beauties were originally known from locales in Burma, and Thailand.

Not Vietnam, I see them advertised constantly as such, but from what I know, they are not from Vietnam.

yunanensis and moquardi are known to occur in Vietnam

Thanks for the info!

Yes, I know they aren't from Vietnam, but thats the most common name so I use it.

yeah, I understand.

but if we keep using it, and not use a name that accurately describes the snake, it perpetuates the cycle of mis-information.

I have always, and still call them just "blue beauty snake"

people know what that is with or without using Vietnamese in the name.

Good luck with them, they are alot of fun.
I stopped working with them in the late 90's but wish I still had them.

Also I noticed you said you introduced them in the fall. Was this correct? I would have though spring, haha.

Thanks.

yes, I usually started putting them together when the NTL started going down into the 50's, which put my snake room down into the upper 60's.

sometimes it was late oct, sometimes early nov, just depended on the weather.

I treated them much more like a python in terms of breeding,than I would of, say a cal king, or a corn snake.

good luck!

Awesome, thanks!

Where I live it usually gets into the 50's mid way threw September. I've been feeding them heavily so I guess in about a month I'll put them together.

Thanks for the help, I'll keep you updated.

thats another thing I can't stress enough, is the females need LOTS of food prior to mating, and they will usually eat during gestation.

I'd still feed during gestation, but feed smaller food items.

I can't agree with you enough. I don't have my blue beauty pair any more (unfortunatley! I gave up my pair in a divorce a few years back--kicking myself now--and have been searching for quite awhile now for a replacement pair as nice as the ones I had!) but I remember this problem well. I have *never* seen a female that put as much into her eggs as that beauty. It actually used to scare me. I fed her absolutely as much as I could get her to eat. Right before laying, it was sometimes only gut-loaded hoppers but getting her as fat as possible before breeding and really cramming the food down her seemed to help.

For whatever reason, lightly misting her with warm water from a spray bottle seemed to help trigger her feeding reflex. (worked with most of my other snakes too, especially the Everglades rats)

My female, who I belive is gravid, goes for my face as soon as I open her enclosure..lol. No eating for her. Ive been looking for info on the net about breedin VBB's and the length of getstation for the eggs, things like that..But I cant find Anything, at all..very limited info. If anyone could help me out..that would be great!..thanks in advance.

You've got to be strong-willed with the Blue Beauties. they are masters at intimidation. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

As for breeding. I keep my trio together all year round and tend to cool them in late summer, nothing serious just a 5-10 degree drop from their norm during the night and day if at all. Then I start pumping them full of food and continue to do so long after I know the females are gravid. I feed them up until the pre-egglaying shed.

As for incubation, I've always used vermiculite, but this coming year I'm switching to sphagnum moss.

Pretty much if you keep them warm and EXTREMELY well fed, they'll breed no problem.
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Finis Coronat Opus! - "The End Crowns The Work!"