first time ball breeder

[Nicky]

Hey everyone,
I'm soon hoping to purchase a breeding pair of ball pythons. It's my first time breeding and I have acouple of questions. Im sry if this has been posted tons of times but when i scrolled down to the bottem of this forum i couldnlt find anything about breeding so i'll post it now. I purchased the ball python maual today by philippe de vosjoli and it helped answer alot of my questions but it never mentioned( or if it did i overlooked it) after there done breeding do you seperate your male and femal or if you have a big enough tank can they live togther and if they can live togther how big. It says you should decress the tempature slowly befor they breed i'm just curious why how does this help them breed thx. Once i get them i'll post there progress and hopefully next summer i'll see you guys at the reptile show.thx
rock on kayla

[emroul]

You could try looking in the breeding/incubation forum for tons of info.

As far as the decreasing temps go, they need to be "cooled" before they are bred, because it is said to stimulate breeding behavior. It cools down in the wild, then they go off feed, the breed, and then spring time rolls around and it gradually starts warming up, and they start eating after the female lays her eggs, etc. No, the pair shouldn't live together. Period. They both need their own enclosures so they don't stress. If the female gets stressed while the eggs are forming inside her, she may become what is called "egg bound". (The eggs won't come out, and she could die). VERY bad, if you didn't notice. ANY way, there isn't much more I could say without writing my very own breeding book.

Oh, and don't just take one person's suggestions/advice. Do TONS of research. It isn't something to just jump into. ;) And have fun finding a breedable female this time of year. LOL..if you want to wait on the breeding for a couple years, buy a pair of baby ball pythons, and raise them up. It is VERY rewarding in the end. :)

Good luck.
Jennifer

[Nicky]

thx ya i was gonna start in a couple of years just gettting the info now.