Posted by:
SoLA
at Thu Aug 13 18:50:50 2009 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by SoLA ]
It sounds like yours are ready. Age seems to be quite a bit more important than weight. If the animal is of a healthy weight for its size, they will be capable of reproducing. The smallest female I have had give me healthy babies was much less than 300g and was right around 200g after giving birth. She was 4-5 years at the time and was housed communally with other amazon tree boas and an emerald on exhibit, and all were split up shortly before she gave birth.
This was not a large litter and there was one still born. I do not consider this too bad considering she was shipped across the country during her pregnancy and was treated heavily for mites upon her arrival. She was also housed in a large rack system for quarentine where I was not aware of her pregnancy, nor did I set the cage up in a way I felt appropriate for a pregnant snake. However, the rack tubs were quite large (~3' x 1.5' x 15" and decent thermoregulation was likely available for an approximately 270g snake.
Under normal cicunstances (which would not be too much different than the above stated breeding went actually) I leave the male with the female for the duration of the breeding season and remove usually when I see significant swelling. Offer her food and she will refuse appropriately on her own.
The biggest key (in my opinion) is making sure she has room to thermoregulate. Well, that and making sure you are prepared for the birth so you don't find one of these climbing a cord on the other side of the room like I did with this one.
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