Breeding Rainbow’s

[CrocodileTearz]

Hi all,
I'm new to this forum and i want to ask a question.
I posted this question in other forums but i got no answer; so hopefully someone here might answer me.

i have 3 columbian rainbow boas and i’ve had them for 3.5 years now. They are about 90-100cm (3 feet) long. And i don’t know if they are mature yet.Should i try to breed them this winter or should i wait for the next year.
What do u think?
By the way they are 2 males and 1 female.

Thanks in advance.

The Female
http://www.repticzone.net/images/8613/Rainbow3..JPG

http://www.repticzone.net/images/8613/Rainbow31..JPG

The Males:

#1
http://www.repticzone.net/images/8613/Rainbow4.JPG

#2
http://www.repticzone.net/images/8613/Rainbow1..JPG

[mannannan]

I'd let them bulk up for another season. My rule of thumb is, if you're unsure, wait another year :)
Bigger mother means bigger litter too, in most cases :P

[CrocodileTearz]

I guess what u said is very true.
But i'm asking this because i'm not familiar with rainbow boa size and maturation. Different web sites say different infos.

Can you please what their maturation size. I know there's variation between individuals, but give me an average.

Thanks man.:)

[ssscales]

I've never bred Colombian Rainbows, but I would wait another year. 3Ft for 3-1/2 years old seems a bit small. What is your feeding schedule like?

I would wait till that girl is over 4ft and has some weight to her. Like mannannan said, older bigger girls mean bigger healthier litters.

[Darren179]

colombians are reccomended to be atleast 3 years old 4 feet in length and atlest 2.5 lbs if I am not mistaken. Dont quote me on that I think a better person to ask would be somebody with previous experience in breeding them

[CrocodileTearz]

Thanks guy for ur help.

ssscales - now i feed them a med-sized rat every 10 days. For the first year i used to feed them from fuzzy mice to med-sized mice once a week. For the second year i used to feed them from med-sized mice to adult mice once every 10-14 days. I know i wasn't feeding them more often but i was scared to get "pin-heads".

Darren179 - I think my snakes are near the 4 feet range. They range from 97cm - 108cm. And one of them are in their pre-shed mode and the other two are in their milky-skin mode.

The thing is i have them all in enclosure, so if they decided to breed there's nothing i can do to stop them. But i think they might be imature size wise.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Darren179 - I think my snakes are near the 4 feet range.

They grew a FOOT since your first post! Holy, that was fast!

[CrocodileTearz]

Hi Jeff_Favelle,:)
Yeah i know it sounds strange, but i'm not very familiar with the "inch-foot" system. So if i have a 100cm snake i call it 3 feet. However, 100cm = 3.2808399 feet.

In addition, i made this thread in more than two more sites before i posted it here. Also my 3 Rainbows shed their skin two weeks ago and their in another shed. It maybe due that i like to feed my snakes more before winter kicks in.

Sorry for the confusion.

[CrocodileTearz]

Hi Jeff_Favelle,:)
Yeah i know it sounds strange, but i'm not very familiar with the "inch-foot" system. So if i have a 100cm snake i call it 3 feet. However, 100cm = 3.2808399 feet.

In addition, i made this thread in more than two sites before i posted it here. Also my 3 Rainbows shed their skin two weeks ago and their in another shed. It maybe due that i like to feed my snakes more before winter kicks in.

I really didn't measure them soon, but i'm only assuming they are growing larger because i gave each of them 2 med-size rats in 2 weeks.

Sorry for the confusion. I hope i made things clear. :grab:

PS. i'm not really in a hurry to breed them. :grab:

[foman]

One thing you can do to stop them breeding is to put them in seperate enclosures, Snakes should be kept solo unless attempting to breed, and you don't want them breeding if they are not of size.

[Brent Strande]

Originally posted by CrocodileTearz
The thing is i have them all in enclosure, so if they decided to breed there's nothing i can do to stop them. But i think they might be imature size wise.

As foeman said, there is something that you can do to stop them... separate them!!! Breeding at an early cage can be dangerous to your animals!

[Jeff_Favelle]

There's more problems than unexpected breeding by having all your snakes in one cage. Bad idea on so many levels.

[Linds]

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
There's more problems than unexpected breeding by having all your snakes in one cage. Bad idea on so many levels.

Yup. Illness, problems monitoring individuals, fighting, accidental feeding response to eachother, stress related problems such as aggression, lowered immune system, and refusal to feed are just a few other problems that can arise from communal living for snakes. They simply weren't intended to live together, and there are no benefits to the snakes in doing so.

Anyways, welcome to the site. I'm sure you won't have any problems getting everything sorted out for your little rainbows. They look very nice :)

[CrocodileTearz]

Thanks a lot guys, for ur help :w. I guess i have to buy a new quarium, so i can seperate te female from the males.

I have a whole year to let them grow. Should i ppt them together, next summer or should i reintroduce them next late fall?

Because based on my experience with boa constrictor, they breed from mid-winter late spring.

I rewally apreciate every input in this thread. Thanks for the advice guys. ;)