liquidleaf
New member
Long story short - I find myself suddenly in possession of a breeding pair of ball pythons.
Now, my first pet snake, Ermy, is a ball python. However, after I got him, I got several boas (I've been trying to breed my adult Surinams, now for the second season, so fingers crossed)... but only obtained a baby female future mate for Ermy last fall. Obviously, any breeding there is a few years away.
However - my husband was told by a coworker that our local SPCA had announced on the radio that they currently had two ball pythons available for adoption. Our local SPCA isn't really too knowledgeable about herps, so my husband went over immediately to see what the situation was.
The animals had been taken from a home where the owner had a lot of pets, and then suddenly got sick, and all the animals in the household were removed (I'm not sure if cruelty charges were involved). There were two ball pythons, one large, one smaller. The SPCA referred to the larger one as the male and the smaller as the female (even though it's usually the other way around). When my husband arrived, only the larger ball was available - they told him that the "female" had blood in her stool, so they were going to observe her for a while longer.
Brandon came home with the large "male". I didn't probe "him", since he had a burn on his head he was recovering from and I didn't want to stress him further, but "his" tail shape, spur size, and overall size made me think that "he" was a "she".
No big deal. That was two weeks ago - this past Friday, we returned to the SPCA to see what had happened with the other ball. When we arrived, the vet was there, and gave more details - apparently the blood in the "stool" was more than likely caused because the two snakes were copulating, and the volunteers didn't realize, and they forcibly separated the two. Obviously, some trauma could cause a little bleeding. So, since the vet hadn't seen any more bleeding or other symptom, she released "the girl" to us. We brought "her" home and put her in the cage with her mate (we only had the one quarantine cage set up at the time). It made more sense to me that "she" was a he, especially if some minor trauma had occurred to the hemipene when the two were separated.
Well, not a half hour later when I checked on the pair, they were locked up. Talk about not shy! I've never seen my boas locked up, and never seen snakes locked up in person before, but that was pretty unmistakable. From the looks of it, I was right and the larger snake is the female and the smaller the male.
Let's just say I'm reading through all my ball python breeding materials now! I wasn't planning on having any ball python breedings for a few years, but nature doesn't really care about plans.
So, anything I should expect or look for? I'm more familiar with boa breeding - will the male "lose interest" in the female, or should I just watch for ovulation?
Isn't it a bit late in the season for them to be breeding? I'm amazed that they were breeding at the SPCA, because they had been housed in a tall glass arboreal cage with top heat, not to mention the kids and other people walking by the glass and tapping on it...
Now, my first pet snake, Ermy, is a ball python. However, after I got him, I got several boas (I've been trying to breed my adult Surinams, now for the second season, so fingers crossed)... but only obtained a baby female future mate for Ermy last fall. Obviously, any breeding there is a few years away.
However - my husband was told by a coworker that our local SPCA had announced on the radio that they currently had two ball pythons available for adoption. Our local SPCA isn't really too knowledgeable about herps, so my husband went over immediately to see what the situation was.
The animals had been taken from a home where the owner had a lot of pets, and then suddenly got sick, and all the animals in the household were removed (I'm not sure if cruelty charges were involved). There were two ball pythons, one large, one smaller. The SPCA referred to the larger one as the male and the smaller as the female (even though it's usually the other way around). When my husband arrived, only the larger ball was available - they told him that the "female" had blood in her stool, so they were going to observe her for a while longer.
Brandon came home with the large "male". I didn't probe "him", since he had a burn on his head he was recovering from and I didn't want to stress him further, but "his" tail shape, spur size, and overall size made me think that "he" was a "she".
No big deal. That was two weeks ago - this past Friday, we returned to the SPCA to see what had happened with the other ball. When we arrived, the vet was there, and gave more details - apparently the blood in the "stool" was more than likely caused because the two snakes were copulating, and the volunteers didn't realize, and they forcibly separated the two. Obviously, some trauma could cause a little bleeding. So, since the vet hadn't seen any more bleeding or other symptom, she released "the girl" to us. We brought "her" home and put her in the cage with her mate (we only had the one quarantine cage set up at the time). It made more sense to me that "she" was a he, especially if some minor trauma had occurred to the hemipene when the two were separated.
Well, not a half hour later when I checked on the pair, they were locked up. Talk about not shy! I've never seen my boas locked up, and never seen snakes locked up in person before, but that was pretty unmistakable. From the looks of it, I was right and the larger snake is the female and the smaller the male.
Let's just say I'm reading through all my ball python breeding materials now! I wasn't planning on having any ball python breedings for a few years, but nature doesn't really care about plans.
So, anything I should expect or look for? I'm more familiar with boa breeding - will the male "lose interest" in the female, or should I just watch for ovulation?
Isn't it a bit late in the season for them to be breeding? I'm amazed that they were breeding at the SPCA, because they had been housed in a tall glass arboreal cage with top heat, not to mention the kids and other people walking by the glass and tapping on it...
