Male to female ratio for breeding programs?

[Jim Smith]

I attended the Atlanta Repticon show today and found it to be quite a bit better than it has been in the past. There was quite a good representation of snake breeds other than ubiquitous ball pythons and BRBs, with a good number of different colubrid and hognose snakes on display. That said, I ended up purchasing another female Honduran Milk snake for my future breeding project. I was wondering what ratio is optimum for a breeding program? I currently have two males and three females. I only have room for five snakes, so I have to sell one of my other snakes to make room for this new female. I was planning on selling one of my males which would leave me with one male and four females. Is this an acceptable ratio or should I sell one of my females and maintain two males with three females? Any insights and recommendations would be very much appreciated.

[Primal Rage]

Hey Jim I just got back from Repticon too! It was a pretty good show. I was hoping to see some Mexican Alligator Lizards, Snow Hondurans, or some hatchling Blue or Green Tree monitors. Needless to say all I went home with was a 15 tub hatchling rack from C serpents and some hides. My male extreme successfully bred with 4 of my females. Out of 23 eggs there was 1 slug and 2 eggs went bad for what ever reasons. So as far as fertility in males is concerned, your guy should be able to service all your females. I would recommend brumating the adults you plan on breeding.

[Jim Smith]

PR,

Thanks for the feedback and the update on your breeding project. I've been wondering how it was going after you had the first eggs pip. The female I picked up is a beautiful 2013 Pearl. I'm really excited to see how she develops and hopefully delivers some beautiful babies when her time comes.

Take care and please post some photos of you new babies.

[Primal Rage]

Who did you get a pearl from? I would love to see a pic of her!! An egg from the second clutch started to pip today. I excited to see what pops out of this clutch.

[Jim Smith]

PR,

I bought the Pearl from Cindy Moore of Reigning Reptiles out of Buford, GA. She said that they were trying to get a line of Pearls going so that they could provide a supply to the marketplace. I was somewhat surprised that they brought it to the show if they did not want to sell it and even more surprised that she sold it if they are working on getting a line of Pearls going. I'm going to email her now to get the genetic background etc. on the snake and let you know what I find out.

Again, please post photos of your new babies as they hatch.