I am about to give up

I had a grand idea of breeding balls. My ultimate goal was to get ONE albino. I thought easy get two hets and breed them and get the snake I longed for a albino ball easy right? NO I have two beautiful adult females about 1800-1700 grams that I got that where poss het for albino And I got a male 1500g. I wintered them over and then put them togeather. I saw both tie. I got NOTHING, no eggs I don't know what I am doing wrong. They are all eating well. I also have two normal females (both about 500g) that I am raising to breed. But If I cant get the two adults to breed how will I ever get the younger ones to breed in a few years? I am so frustrated right now I told my roommate I should chuck it all in and offer to trade them all for an albino. I laughed because I know that even 2 adult balls and two sub adults are not worth a male albino (which I would preferr). So what should I try to get these girls to lay eggs? Shoot I thought snake breeding was simple.

One season miss is nothing to worry about. Really. Just go at it again next year. Next time I would buy all 100% het albinos though. as you could breed these and get no albinos. They could prove to be normal.

But do not give up. Breeding has it's ups and downs. If it all went perfect we all would have tons of babies every year.

Right - I have bred pythons on and off for years. Last season, I got nothing from a couple species I have successfully bred multiple times...and I didn't do anything different that I am aware of. There are several factors that come into play, but witnessing copulation is far from a guarantee of producing babies (or even eggs). If the female doesn't ovulate, the male isn't producing viable sperm, anything YOU do isn't going to matter. There are things you can do to help stimulate those things, such as temp cycling and making sure they are properly conditioned, but there are still no guarantees.

I got my het male first (he is such a sweet boy) with the purchase of two large girls. Then I traded the 2 girls for a baby 100 het. At the same time of my trade I got 3 normal girls (babies). So my 100 het girl is not breeding weight yet. I figgured I could raise up the normals and trade them for another 100 het in a year or two, but I gave one to a friend. Then I got a killer deal on two adults (poss het). I figgured that I could get the experence of the poss het breeding before the 100 het girl was ready. So now I have 5 females and one male. LOL I found myself with more snakes than I know what to do with (I am sure no one here has ever done that ) My two normal girls are not ready to breed (and too small to trade for a het female).

So my options are 1. try again next year 2. TRY and get a trade for 4 girls (2 poss het and 2 normals) and one boy (which I seriously doubt anyone would trade) or 3. Forget my dream of owning an albino.

Well IMO Option 3 is not an option. STICK WITH IT!!! lol

I would keep what you have. You have a lot of time into them and I bet you like the snakes. Just try again next season. It is not that far away. Really!!!

And there are so many great people here that you can post any questions and get answers quickly.

I say go for option 1

That makes me feel better. I was watching the girls and didnt see them ovulate. Which I thought was strange but though I might have missed it. I honestly thought that once mated they always laid eggs. Dose the humidy and temp affect if they ovulate or not? Can they ovulate at any time of year or just after cooling?

I really love my snakes All of them love to be held, eat great and are wonderful snakes. The only one that has a temperment issue is my 100 het female she can be a pain in the neck (but I still love her). The two big girls have wild patterns and just LOVE to come out and give me a squeeze I handle them often (I wondered if that would affect them ovulating?). The adult girls are gaining weigh fast and eat like pigs. They where born in 02 so they are 5 years. Is 1800 grams small for that age?

Did you see one tie? You should breed them repeatedly. Give plenty of chances. I don't handle mine while they are breeding or afterwards, but that's me and mine. I usually let the male breed the females a few times, not just once.
I bred over a dozen females this year(multiple males) and only got 4 to lay eggs. One clutch went bad, one hatched, two clutches still in the incubator.
Give it time, you have to have patience when working with ball pythons. Think of it as NEXT year those poss hets will be bigger than this year, and possibly lay even MORE eggs being bigger snakes.
Feed them and love them now, and next year go for it!
Wolfy

Cooling, shortening the light cycle to only 8-10 hours and multiple lock ups are ways to help your snakes get eggs. You've got all the ingredients to see your dream- stick it out, stay the course & you'll have not only an Albino, BUT one YOU produced! How sweet is that? From someone who's done it, I can tell you it's worth it.

Best Wishes- Deb

I saw them tie only once but I wasnt checking often because I didnt want to distrube them. The up side is that if the big girls keep eating like they are they will be 2000 g before next year. I am not powerfeeding the smaller girls so they will most likely take till the 09 to be breeding size. Thanks for the support.






these are my girls