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Breeding Muller's/Saharan sand boa?

G

Goanna

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I picked up a pair of these early in the summer. I kept them seperate and introuduced them on several occasions. I have been keeping them at around 85ºF during the day, with a nightiime drop.

This is a new species, not many people are working with them. I was wondering if anyone here has any experiance with breeding them.

I want to give the female a few weeks with a container of moist sphagnum in case she is gravid, but I never witnessed coplulation, so I am not expecting it.

Does anyone know what I should drop their temps to? Or do I not need to drop them at all? From what I remember, some sand boas do not even need to go into brumation, they can be kept the same year round and still breed.

Anyway, if anyone can answer my questions and/or has any tips on breeding this species, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!

Here is a pic of my Female Saharan Sand, She just went through a rough shed.
 

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Here is the male. He has great coloration and patten IMO. I love these little guys, they remind me of Mini Kenyans, lol.
 

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Do they have a basking spot, warmer than the 80s?
Also, I know is true with most species, they breed in the rainier seasons, has the humidity been even slightly higher?
Dont drown them, just occasional mistings might spur them into action.
Put them together for a week, seperate for a week, together for a week, seperate for a week and so on. Eventually something is bound to happen.
 
They are in a rack system that is termostat controlled. It has a strip of 3" flexwatt accross the back of each shelf. I had it set at 85 degrees for most of the summer, now I am starting to drop the temps a bit for the winter. Although, I am not even sure that this species needs to be brumated/hibernated, but it cant hurt I guess.

I will probably just cool them off, and then raise the temps back up in the spring, and at that time give them some light spraying every couple of days. Hopefully, I can get them to breed by doing that.

Thanks for the reply. If anyone else has any tips or advice for me, it would be appreciated!
 
Yes, they lay eggs, but they hatch very quickly after being laid, 10-14 days from what I have read.
 
I would assume incubation methods would be relatively the same as any other species, no matter the duration.
I have never tried to breed Muellers, or research them for that matter, so I couldnt tell you personally about the incubation duration.
 
Well, I have 3 incubators all ready to go from when I was breeding a wide assortment of animals a few years ago, so thats not a problem. I would probably incubate them around 80ºF and 70-80% humidity. If I see them not doing good at those settings, I can always adjust them or switch them over to another incubator, as I keep them all set a little different.
 
Thats always a smart idea.
Have more than 1 incubator ready, incase of a possible problem.
Sounds like you are weel prepared for this.
 
I just wanted to give this thread an update. Since I posted this, I picked up another female. I had them together most of January. Now, it could just be my imagination, but the new female is looking a little bigger! I am really keeping my fingers crossed here. I have them all seperated now, the suspected female has a tray of damp sphagnum moss in her enclosure now, and she went right in it. I figure if she is gravid, maybe 3-4 more weeks will go by before she drops if it was from breeding with my male in December. Its also possible though that she could have been gravid when I got her, as she was a fresh import, and I beleive their breeding season in the wild was around december/january from what I hear.

Anyway, I will be keeping a constant eye on her now. If anything happens, I will be sure to take some pics and update this page. Anyone else start working with these guys? Anyone get a succssfull mating/egg laying?
 
Keep us updated. I'd love to see pics of the eggs.

I have KSBs, normals and B&Ws. I had my first clutch born in September and it's exciting. I have been thinking about getting some Mueller's for some time now, just haven't done it yet.
 
Well, I still have not witnessed a copultation, but that new female I got a couple months ago looks like she is getting bigger, and there is no change at all in diet :D. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The first time when I mentioned she looked possibly gravid, I guess I was wrong, she must have just gained weight from good feeding (as she was a fresh import when I got her). But now, her weight was stable for a while and it seems to be increasing again :D.

I have again placed a nice sized container with damp sphagnum in the cage with her as of yesterday, so I will see what happens. If I get any eggs, I will post pictures here.

I guess not many others are working with these guys this year? Just curious. I see them more and more at every show, so I am guessing they are becoming pretty popular.
 
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I just purchased one of these and am interested in the adult size and how to tell sex. are they similar to the Kenyans where the female is larger? I have heard that you can tell by tail length? Possible spurs? I have found some articles on the Saharan's at www.jasons-jungle.com, he has a project with the Saharan's, doesn't have a lot of information but some nice pictures, they are very cool snakes. I currently have some Kenyans, Indian sand boas (Eryx Johnii). they are also very cool snakes.
 
Well, its been over a year since I made this thread, figure its time for an update.

I had no success breeding these guys in 04 or 05, but I did start cooling them down in November and just raised temps up last week. I put the females into the males enclosure one at a time, and I went into the room late at night and saw them both very active.

I didnt witness copulation but the male did seem very interested in the female, so I am going to keep my fingers crossed.

I am also attempting light misting during the days, to up the humidity just a bit. I know where they come from rain is not a common occurance but I figure it might help stimulate them. I am not going to make it get very damp though, and I only intend to do it for a week or two, after that they go back to completly dry setups.

So, again ill keep everyone updated if I suspect one of my females is gravid.

Has anyone else happened to have any luck with this species over the last year or so?
 
my saharans have copulated repeatedly the last 3 years, but still no eggs. my arabians have copulated the last 2 years and no eggs. ive tried slightly different cooling regimes, as well as putting them together at different times. someday i'll catch them at the right time. bruce miller, rick staub, and warren treacher have all successfully bred saharans and arabians. robert stout also successfully bred arabians. thanks ,scott [email protected]
 
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