To breed or not to breed?

[AlexPan]

My male Cal King snake have not being accsepting food for well over 5 weeks, he does this every year. Today he ate a mouse, so i think he is in breeding mode, even though i have not brumated him. My female Cal King snake have not being brumated, and was eating normally. Bouth are in excellent condition.

Would it be a bad idea to try to mate them at this point? Thanks every one.

O and they are atleast 4 years old each.

[BoidKeeper]

If it were me they would have been off food as of Nov 15 and cooling for two months would have began on Dec 1st. Snakes usually refuse food when they want to breed not accept it. If it was me I would not feed them and brumate them then try and breed them.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Will]

Cals will accept food even if they're not 'in the mood'.He's probably just hungry enough to eat. When I had a single Cal(Oh, those were the days...), he would eat maybe once a month, but he was never bred(at the time anyways). Like Trevor said, my males almost always refuse to eat during the breeding season, not the opposite.

If you're gonna brumate them, be sure to clear out their digestive tracts first.

I would put the female down right away(assuming she's been "cleared" out for over 2 weeks). And leave her down until Feb 1. I would leave the male for 2-3 more weeks to "clear out" and put him down until Feb 1 as well. If you wanted, you could probably push them both back to Feb 14th if you feel a longer brumation is nessesary. Bring them back up and begin the breeding cycle then. A 4-6 week brumation would be my personal minimum.

I have heard of people successfully breeding Cals without brumating, but have never tried it myself, and I honestly wouldn't know how to figure out the timing of things(when to introduce them, etc). Perhaps someone here could explain the procedure for that scenario...

Right now, I think it's not too late to start brumating them if you intend to breed, but it's getting close...

[Tim_Cranwill]

I don't think you would have much success and I don't see your male's eating habits as being a sign that he wants to breed. If you want to breed them, breed them in the spring with or without brumation. I recommend brumation though. Why not brumate? Take a few months off of feeding, give them a few months off and better fertility... almost a no-brainer.

[Katt]

Without brumation, timing depends on sheds.

If you can not brumate wait for either male or female to shed, but really, it's better to breed them after the female has shed as I have had slugs when breeding timed to the male's shed.

Gee that sounded weird.

Breed the female at least three times after a shed.

[AlexPan]

Thanks every one. I'l wait 2 weeks and brumate them then.