Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have three redtail boas, recently discovered my first two were female, the thrid a male. so stuck them together to see what would happen.... i think something happened.... well, i know something happened. i know that he hooked up with at least one of the girls. so everyone started telling me that boa breeding is hard to do, temp/humidity needs to be just right to get them to breed, but i havent really changed anything (the heat lamp burnt out for three days and when i got a new bulb they went at it). different people say different things, different webpages say different things, but if any one with experiance could help me out, that would be great. thanks

I havn't found breeding bci to be difficult at all. While some people find they need to cycle them (perhaps you did, and the bulb burnout/replacement was all that was necessary), it doesn't seem to be necessary in all situations. I didn't need to.

The only suggestion I have for you is to keep them together for another week or so as they may mate again. Seeing them lock isn't always indication of a successfull fertilization.

Ian

My guess is that you are working with Central American or northwestern South American boas, B.c. imperator, and not the true redtails from the Amazon basin region, B.c.c. The true red-tails are considerably more difficult to breed successfully than the northern subspecies and require more careful environmental manipulation. While you may feel that you have not done anything, the seasonal background cooling that U.S. homes experience in the winter, and your heat lamp being out for a few days, would have been more than sufficient to que breeding activity. Males are not difficult to induce to copulate, but it is the timing with the female’s ovulation that is the requirement for successful reproduction. This typically requires a slight cooling period of weeks and not days to induce ovulation. Do you have any photos of these boas?

Kelly

thank you for the info. I can email pics, I dont know how to put them up here. ~ shanon