Sand boa breeding question(s) ...

[Charis]

Been kicking around getting one or two for a few years and have started thinking about maybe breeding them. Thought I'd start a thread for any questions I might have that the care sheets haven't/don't answer. The first one I haven't found an answer to, is how many offspring do they average? Thanks!

[alessia55]

One of our forum member's sand boa just had a litter... here is the thread:
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/erycines/93476-wonderful-sight-wake-up.html

[Charis]

Actually, I saw that thread which got me wondering if that many was the norm. Seemed a little high from such small snakes but then I realized I'd never read an average anywhere.

[CK SandBoas]

Been kicking around getting one or two for a few years and have started thinking about maybe breeding them. Thought I'd start a thread for any questions I might have that the care sheets haven't/don't answer. The first one I haven't found an answer to, is how many offspring do they average? Thanks!

My litters have been 13 (with one still born, and one that died a day later due to unknown circumstances), 17, and this years litter was 16, with one still born and one slug.

I have seen younger, lighter females have 6 or less offspring, while older females, with more weight to them have as many as 30. My personal recommendation for breeding is my females have to be at minimum 400 grams, before i would consider them for breeding. I have heard 300 grams as a minimum, but for me, it's 400 grams:)

[Charis]

Thanks for the replies! About how old are females before they are generally breeding weight?

[CK SandBoas]

Thanks for the replies! About how old are females before they are generally breeding weight?

I would say 4 or 5 years old. I have a het albino paradox female that is currently at 430 grams. But i will still wait until next year to possible breed her. She just turned 4 in June :)

[GarterPython]

I have read that the minimum for a female is 200 grams and the minimum for males is 100 grams. I am guessing that this is wrong but this is what I read. I now am (I actually have for a while I just haven't mentioned it) thinking about getting either a breeding pair of Kenyan Sand Boa, Corn Snakes or Leopard Geckos. I am kind of leaning toward the KSB but I don't know. I also have a question. If I breed a Snow to a Normal Stripe what would I get? Is it possible to get a snow stripe. Has anybody ever accomplished this? Also I heard that to make a snow you breed an anery to a Albino. Is this true?

[Charis]

I'm guessing, from the limited reading on KSB genetics that I've done that both Anery and Amel, or Albino, is recessive. Snow is usually a combo of both those genes, yes. Both parents would need to be at least het for it, or carrying the gene even if it's not visible, to be able to pass it to offspring. I don't know what stripe in KSBs is, if it's reccessive or dominant. Be interested to know that too. Most of my knowledge of snake genetics is with corns.

[GarterPython]

I am only going into grade 9 so I suck at genetics as I haven't really learned them in school at all. Thanks for the input Charis. If I do get into breeding them and it is possible to produce a snow stripe that will be my goal. My other goal is to create a snow paradox.

[Charis]

Yeah, an albino het anery x anery het albino would give you a real nice rainbow litter. That's one way to get some snows, there are other combos that would get you snows too, just have differences in the percent you might get. That is the combo I would do personally but that would be up to you. I also don't know what mode of heritability paradox is in KSB's either. That I'd like to know as well. It seems to be more predictable in KSB's than in any other reptile I'm familiar with.

[GarterPython]

Does anybody know if it is possible to make a snow stripe KSB? I know that it is possible to create a snow paradox here is a picture.

[Eight]

Isn't the stripe gene actually a result of hybrids, and not actually found naturally in Kenyan sand boas?

[Charis]

I'm not sure but I think you might be right. Seems like most of the genetic stripes I've seen ads for were marked as Kenyon x Rufescens.

[Eight]

At least I'm not losing my mind. It kind of makes stripes less desirable for me, but that's only my view. Also I've noticed that most of the stripes I've seen don't seem to be very clean, but more of a rough stripe. Though I may have only seen bad examples.