Breeding question

I have 5 year old female boa that was bred by two different males this year . This is my first year of possibly producing . Normally she eats anything and everything you put in front of her , my arm once, and will even eat in shed.

Noticed her swelling a bit back , assumed it was ovulation and have noticed that her back 1/3 is swelling larger. She has absolutely no interest in food , hugs the heat ( 90 degrees ) when she moves away from the heat she leaves her back half on the heat. The male has lost interest in her for over a week close to two(or more, i work nights so everything runs together).

If shes gravid will she be enormously swollen or will she get bigger as the babies grow?


Bryon Adzic

If it was a fertile breeding she'll get bigger as the babies grow. It does sound like you're going to be a grandpa though. Keep us updated. It's pretty cool. Going off feed is normal too. Some females will start eating agian right before they drop so you may want to try her on occasion just to see if she gets hungry.

A couple days after the original post the male decided to get get frisky again. Left him in there to be on the safe side of windows of chance. The swelling moved foward of her tail region , still in the back 3rd but ends a few inches from her vent . Still basks like crazy doesn't move around much and I swear I giggles coming out of their cage when they drive me nuts.

I just have a couple of questions.

How long have they been together?

( if its less than 30 days do not remove the male this just may be 1st ovulation.)

Have they had a period of no interest and then they started the snake samba again?

Last thing if it has been more than 30days and you noticed a 1st ovulation early then, Congrads it looks like your going to be a Grandpa

They were together roughly ( having to think w/out the benifits of records) 6-8 weeks , somewhere in that timeframe . Yes they had a period of no interest for about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks and then the cranked up some Barry White and candles and hes been breeding her off and on since. I think hes loosing interest in her as hes spending alot of time roaming the cage.

The swelling moved shortly after he resumed breeding again and she still leaves her back third under the heat constantly. Not a large swelling but noticable like she ate very well but lower down.
She still shows no interest in doing much other than basking. This would be her ( and mine ) first litter .

The only other snakes I've bred are JCPs but they were gaurenteed breeders and I never seen swelling in her and didn't know she was even gravid till she laid eggs.

I might have an interested pair of capet pythons in mating too. I am not sure how to explain this but I will start from the beginning or something. First of all my male is 11 months old and female 4 years. Did your female ever do a weird stance when with the male? Like My carpet female would crawl voer the male and hold her head up high for about 5 minutes. This is the only thing I see that is unusual in her personality. But just this Saturday she did not wan to eat and it has been three weeks since her last feeding. But we put them both in their new cage and Mortecai, the male, nipped Medusa twice and then later thet started cuddling. I don't see any swelling in ehr at all, but she is as close as she can be to the basking bulb and also at the highest part of the tank. But she moves occasionally down to her water bowl and then back to Mortecai. I keep looking for the tail to change in that circular motion that breeders talk about, but nope ahven't seen it. The story though is we bought Mortecai in the beginnign of June maybe late May and immediately put him in the same cage with Medusa, her cage. They got along great and then we moved and Mortecai escaped a week form last tuesday. When he was gone she was moved into a roomshortly before we found Mortecai. We put them both in that room, sicne we didn't want them to escape. The gradient temp was 79-82 and they were inthere form last tuesday until Sunday. But occasionally we put them in the sunroom when people weren't over which was mroe like there regular tank temperature. Saturday we fed Mortecai a medium rat dead and medusa did not want to eat. the rat was crawling all over her and she didn't do a thing. We tried killing it and she still did not react to the food. So Sunday we put them in the new tank and her eyes are now glazed over, but when we put her in the tank, Mortecai tried to bite her twice. She just backed off, and an hour later they were sleeping together on top under heat emitter and basking bulb, which is close to 90 degrees, but we lowered just incase for they are near both bulbs. If oyu put your hand under
there the heat emitter is like nice warm feeling and the basking bulb is not directly above them. It feels just right to me. But what are your thoughts about them maybe already mating or soon? Also why di d she not eat and why did Mortecai nip her?

Thanks,
Cassandra

I believe your male is much too young to breed right now. A few breeders I've talked to in the past wouldn't even sex them till they were 2 years old. The female is probably ready to breed , her first clutch may not take when she does , thats supposed to be fairly normal. I had a female not breed but ovulate and produce infertile eggs just from being shacked up with a male temporarily. If I remember right JCPs won't breed or shouldn't be bred until 5 years old. The nipping from the male might've been a warning that he wasn't ready . Had this happen with my boas when the female was younger.

Just as update, the female is feeding again , still showing some swelling thats getting bigger and is due in late August or early September.

Thanks so much for the info. Yes, i was thinking Mortecai was too young as well, but Medusa has not eaten, but we haven't tried to give her food, but she seems really sleepy and always just in her water bwol or under neath a hiding log. About two days ago her eyes were glazed over, but now they are not, I don't get that either. We she actaully lay the unproduced eggs, or just dissolve or something inside of her? Thanks again for all your help, and if you know anyone who breeds jaguar carpet pythons can you give me their website?

Thanks,
Cassandra

Last time I checked they bred them . Unless its a jaguar to jaguar breeding then you really don't know if its going to be a jaguar if I understood the owner correctly. They go pretty quick so I don't know if they will still have any. There is a couple working with hypo carpets that run ads in Reptiles magazine. I think they have jag carpets as well.

Thanks for your help, which magazine was this advertised in? Havea good day!

Cassandra