Question about breeding and antibiotics

Hi All!

I recently purchased a Black Rat Snake with the intention of breeding her to my male. The snake I purchased was woken from brumation and shipped to me, but when I received her, she had RI (which is a whole other thread on the BOI).

In any case, I had to give her antibiotics for 36 days. She finally cleared up and is doing well, but I am concerned about trying to breed her. My concerns can be broken down into 2 questions:

1) Will the antibiotics have affected the ovum in any way? Is it safe to breed a snake that had do take an extended course of antibiotics?

2) I usually breed my snakes during the first 2 weeks after they have had their post-brumation shed, but since she was sick and on antibiotics I didn't. Now, 6 weeks after the post-burmation shed, is it too late to breed her? Will she have re-absorbed her ovum at this point?

She is healthy and a good weight for breeding (765 g), and I would really like to breed her.

Thanks in advance!
~Beau

P.S. Bonus Question: My male is considerably smaller than this female. If I try to breed them, and she has already re-absorbed the ovum, do I need to worry about her trying to eat him?

I can't speak to the whether she can still be bred or not question since I'm unfamiliar with rat snake timelines for breeding.

I can tell you that if she arrived on 3/29, if she were mine she would be in quarantine until 6/27 (90 days) if she had arrived healthy. Since she got an RI I wouldn't start the 90-day clock until she was no longer showing signs of being sick, so she would have this year off.

Yea, that was kinda what I was thinking. I still have her in quarantine, but was thinking that, since the culture the vet did on her showed that the RI was bacterial and she has now finished treatment for that, that it might be ok to taker her out of quarantine. You are probably right tough, it makes the most sense to just wait for next year. So frustrating, knowing that a semi-longterm breeding project has to be put off for ANOTHER year...<sigh>.
Thanks for your reply!
~Beau

If you feel comfortable about your vets findings and she is doing good now I would say you are probably good to breed her. I would take the male to where she is being kept just to be on the safe side. After breeding continue to quarantine both. The babies in the eggs will be fine as the bacterial infection will not pass through the eggs. If she had not seen a vet I would not suggest doing so.