Second Breeding Attempt

I just realized something important... I can't feed Ambrosius today. He's part of my costume for tomorrow! It would be really awful to have him wrapped around my shoulders and regurgitate

Though I suppose that would make the costume pretty unique...

I'll feed him Thursday, lol. Can't believe I almost did that...

I hope everyone has a great time tomorrow! I know I will

THIS IS BREEDING SEASON IN THE LOWER 48 US !!!
Those with planned breedings already have their pairs "working"
My males were dropping plugs 2 months ago,Im doing CA stuff this year and they dont get with it till late Nov/Dec so I have a few more weeks.You should have had those girls in and settled several months prior.Snakes dont do to well with the "mail order bride" stuff.

"Acclimation periods" are they addressed in any of your books/research?
I dont have a use for any other the "new" books from Vin or Jeff so
Im not sure what all they left out in their printings.

Why does it matter if most breeders are breeding right now? In the first page I laid out dates. Those are the plans as written and that's how I have to proceed at this point. Can't just bring in 2 adults because everyone else is doing it... He may have limitations, and I do as well. If it works, great. If not, well it was supposed to be kind of a practice run anyhow. We'll see how it goes.

Ah, forgot to respond to the acclimation thing. Sorry, it's early morning for me and I haven't had my coffee yet

I seem to recall something about the introduced boa requiring a period of 4-7 days on average to become comfortable enough in their enclosure for courting to begin. However, it seems like that may be the case regardless of when I put them together... I'll check real quick and let you know what I find.

In "The Boa Constrictor Manual" it says to give them a one-month period of darkness around November-December. Then when introduced the male will begin tongue-flicking immediately to locate the female. If courtship hasn't begun 2-3 days later, pull one out and separate for a while, then reintroduce and see what happens.

In "Boas In Captivity: Professional Breeders Series" by Vincent Russo, he recommends putting the potential couple together before cycling temperatures to help the female begin developing her follicles. He says place them together for a few days and take the male back out. As soon as the male begins to spur vigorously, leave them together until the female begins to ovulate. After that he goes straight into describing courting and copulation.

I wonder which book it was that mentioned that... Could have been the Fogel book... I'll take a look.

Originally Posted by Metachrosis

The "Testing" Forum is just like this one,its all "open public forum"
No need to run off

If I were to guess,by your explanation of your first attempt,luck wasnt on your side.
You can beat the variables to dust and it wont change anything.
Understanding that many thousands of boa have been reproduced by humans with minimal intrusion to(following set rules)extreme deficiencies of patience are proven far more detrimental then ignorance,much less "luck".

You really can take two mature boa,put them in a box and produce viable litters of baby boa without all the cycling and assorted "human" manipulations some choose to follow.

Ive done it,you can too

I dont cycle here. Nature does it.
I also have learned from experience what breeding a male to 2 females does. I had a bad litter last year with a total of 3 babies and 17 slugs. 1 baby is listed as "Tiny Runt boa" right here on this forum.The other was a full chain link pattern albino that died same day. 1 was perfect.
I personally will not use more then 1 male to 1 female,or 2 males to 1 female.
Some people have good luck using 1 male to 2 females. But the litters i know of were not that big.

Nature, in terms of light and temperature and what not, can't cycle my boas. Light, temperature, humidity and food are all artificially controlled. My snake room is in a basement, in a room with no windows, noise-reduction wall finishing, air purification systems, and loads of other things specifically designed to prevent outside influences from affecting my pets.

I'm sure they have biological cycles of their own, as any human male or female would. However, many factors of any biological cycle (including humans) are affected by things such as feeding, temperature, etc. Speaking strictly from a biological perspective it makes sense that manipulating these factors would affect biochemical and biological factors that may stimulate initiation of hormonal production linked to breeding.

This is not to say boas cannot be bred without manipulation of these factors. They can and have been, as many of you have pointed out. However, as a biologist, it certainly seems not only logical but obvious that manipulation of those factors can and will affect hormone production and breeding. This doesn't mean those factors will determine anything, but they certainly will have an effect. It's a biological response that selectively evolved over millennia and cannot simply cease to function within a century or so. It may not determine success or failure, but will undoubtedly have an influence on the outcome.

Earlier in this thread mention was made that I should decide on exactly what I will do and stick with it. I have decided. I will stick with it. It may work, it may not. We shall see. Let's not forget that boas have been birthed in every month of the year by one breeder or another, which means the HAVE been bred in every month of the year by one breeder or another.

The multiple female thing was my friend's idea. The females belong to him. If he's willing to risk them becoming bound due to production of too many slugs, that is his issue. The boas belong to him as do the risks involved. By breeding Ambrosius this year, it is the process and the experience I most want to get out of this. Baby boas would be a nice perk, but the more experience I get the better I will learn what does and does not work in my specific situation, with my specific animals.

Have a great Halloween!

Cycling will also work. And if my basement were all sealed from light and air temps,i probably would try it.It is insulated,heated and only has a south facing window that i have open to light.The western one is sealed from light. My cycle is about the same as Tommy's, Nov/Dec. I do have friends that cycle and they are close and i think in doing so,their litters are before mine since they cycle in August.I also have had bigger litters then they have. My room doesnt change temps till late Sept and only about 2-3 degrees.By the end of Oct it has dropped from summer temps to about 78 in my room.At that point i have to bring temps up to their range at about 82-85. So i guess i do help the cycle along a bit.But lighting changes with the seasons.

As long as it works for you, that sounds like a great setup. I went a little paranoid when I had some issues with my boas, which is why I created my reptile room lol. A female Madagascan Ground Boa I purchased in 2009 or so had mites and an upper RI when the guy delivered her. To his credit, he informed me of the issues and gave half my money back when he did deliver. I was pleased with his honesty and his attempt to make reparations, so I kept the girl and he kept half of her initial cost. I just didn't want any of that spreading to my other reptiles, so I took some precautions.

I lined the lower outside portion of her enclosure with 4-inch wide double-sided tape to stop mites from spreading, and set up the air purification system to prevent the RI from spreading. Then I treated with warm, relatively dry temps and 2-3x daily misting of JurrasiMite (only thing my local pet shop had). The mites were completely gone after 3 days, though I sprayed for 5 just in case. The RI took almost 2 weeks, during which time I didn't feed her at all, but it did go away.

Well,i am glad its working for you. I hope you dont get anymore ri's. I have been fortunate
enough to not have had any ri's. Yet ? hope not. Its been several years now and i think i have it all set up well.

I have heard others talk about an air system. Are you talking about a room one like i use to humidify and filters out room allergens and dust. Or something more substantial ?