Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just started this project. I have two rainbow boas. The male who is almost 3 years old and is calm, docile, and is easy to handle. The female is a little older and timid, bity, and I am working on taming her. I worry after the brumation period that she won't be ready to accept him. I don't want him to get hurt or cannibalized by the bigger female. Is this something I need to worry about?

I have had the male of about a year now. He was a rescue, raised well by the people who couldn't care for him anymore. So I am used to keeping their temp and humidity levels where they should be on a daily basis. I recently got the female. Most of the experience I have with snakes though, comes from corn and other rat snakes, ribbon and green snakes. These are my first boas. I have successfully bred corns in the past, but they both seemed calm, no attitude problems, or cannibalization whatsoever.

I have been reading forums and other sites off of reddit and other places about cohabitation. Rainbows weren't mentioned in particular, but cannibalization has become a worry since reading the articles. The male is about 45 inches in length, the female is at 52 inches. Shes a little older than he is by about 6 months. I can get the weight later. She just seems much more aggressive. I have listed some of the links i read below and to warn those who click on them they do have some graphic pictures.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31192
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/newbie-advice/547077-cohabitation-snakes.html

I am not ready I think to start breeding yet, Im trying to learn as much as I can about the process with rainbows. So any advice would be helpful.

Glad to hear you're doing the research first.

IMO cannibalism during breeding is much less of a risk as it's two adult animals, not neonates.

I have a breeding caresheet on my site with many of the necessary details about when and what to do.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats