Breeding Newbie asking some questions (we all have to start somewhere!)

excellent point!

Originally Posted by crotalusadamanteus

You said she's an '04, that's your best indicator that she's a mature adult. Anything over 4 years old is of an appropriate breeding age, as long as she's healthy. Some would say 3 years of age is good, and some have had success at 3. To me, that's the "teen" age, and although they can breed at 3, so can a 14 yr old girl. But she probably shouldn't be.

I use 3 years as a minimum but that doesn't mean they'll breed at 3 years either. I have some that wouldn't breed until 5 years. I leave it up to the animal. If they go , they go. If they don't, there is always next year.

With me using 3 years, I still go by the body build/ weight before thinking of breeding. If I have a 3 year old that hasn't put on the muscle size yet and is still quite lanky, she waits another year.

I'll still use the 3 year minimum but i'll continue adding common sense to it as well.

Agreed, common sense is a major factor. Some have it, some don't. Knowing you the way I do, if you said a female was ready at 3, I'd trust you. There are a whole lot of others that I would not.

I might make an exception like that for my '06 Honduran female. She's 3 now, and at least dbl the size of my '05 male. LOL So later this season, I may just decide to go for it. We'll see.

Originally Posted by BryonsBoas

I use 3 years as a minimum but that doesn't mean they'll breed at 3 years either. I have some that wouldn't breed until 5 years. I leave it up to the animal. If they go , they go. If they don't, there is always next year.

With me using 3 years, I still go by the body build/ weight before thinking of breeding. If I have a 3 year old that hasn't put on the muscle size yet and is still quite lanky, she waits another year.

I'll still use the 3 year minimum but i'll continue adding common sense to it as well.

Alrighty, and yeah I'm fine with taking the risk of losing some money (hopin for that tax return!)

What does a hypo/pastel breeding produce? I am just concerned about selling the babies to good homes.

And can the male and my girl be housed together even when not breeding if they are about the same size? She is in a 4' boaphile cage.

Do I need a rack for the neonates? What can they be housed in while caring for them?

Thanks

A pastel hypo produces a mix of hypos, pastels, pastel hypos and normals, all of varying grades. Pastels are a polygenic trait so you end up with varying degrees of appearance as well as numbers in a litter.

As far as housing, some people have kept boas paired without a problem, but with the potential of injury to one or both animals as well as transferal of illness you will be best served to use an enclosure for each of them. (figure with quarantine you will need individual housing to begin with, to make sure the new animal is healthy.) You could go with a 2' or 3' enclosure and figure, barring extreme size, it will house the male for his entire life. Regarding keeping neonates, you can make make shift racks that will work perfectly as the need arrises. My favorite ad lib rack was 2 12 dollar plastic racks from wal mart with 11" heat tape put along the back (so it was wide enough for the 2 tubs per level) and then reflectix wrapping the back and sides. It worked extremely well holding the shoebox tubs for the neonates.

They should be in their own individual cages unless breeding. Snakes are not social animals.

Originally Posted by redtailboa12

Alrighty, and yeah I'm fine with taking the risk of losing some money (hopin for that tax return!)

What does a hypo/pastel breeding produce? I am just concerned about selling the babies to good homes.

And can the male and my girl be housed together even when not breeding if they are about the same size? She is in a 4' boaphile cage.

Do I need a rack for the neonates? What can they be housed in while caring for them?

Thanks

they will produce brightly colored snakes. Your snake is a mutt like most....odds are they will appear to be hypo or common...but there is an off the wall chance you could get a albino...a sunglow....without knowing involved histories of animals...its all a gamble.

Yes they can be housed together for awhile....I wouldn't do it indefinitely.

No you don;t need a rack....but you need to guarantee they stay warm and moist.

Originally Posted by crotalusadamanteus

You said she's an '04, that's your best indicator that she's a mature adult. Anything over 4 years old is of an appropriate breeding age, as long as she's healthy. Some would say 3 years of age is good, and some have had success at 3. To me, that's the "teen" age, and although they can breed at 3, so can a 14 yr old girl. But she probably shouldn't be.

Getting used to my male dwarfs being so much smaller than my females took some getting used to. My females maxed at 42 - 48 inches while my males hit the wall at 32-36 inches and wayyyy leaner.

What are the genetics of a sunglow?

And this may be a stupid question - but how does one monitor the heat tape and make sure it is at an optimal temperature? Do you need a thermostat for each box in the rack?
Randall - haha I like your idea of a makeshift rack!

Another stupid question - is there a 'breeding season' for snakes, or this there an optimal time when they should be bred?

And is there a good morph (of any price) that will produce babies that I can easily sell to at least make up the cost of the pretty male morph? I know nothing is certain with breeding, but anything that would be really cool with a pastel female

Thanks again everyone - I am not going to breed immediately as I have yet to find the lucky bachelor for my female. But thanks for the information!

You can find several reasonable morphs that will make nice offspring combined with your girl. A jungle would go well with her, or an arabesque. Both of those morphs benefit greatly when paired with nice mates.

Regarding monitoring the heat, you can pick up probe thermometers at most reptile websites that sell thermostats (such as beanfarm, bigappleherp etc). You do not need a thermostat for each individual box in a rack, a single thermostat is all you will need. I do suggest though when using a rack, that you use multiple thermometers, as the lower level will often be drastically cooler then the upper levels, so always a good idea to have the ability to glance at the temps to make sure things are good to go.

Boas will breed year round, but seem to be far easier to breed in the fall/winter months.