Are my Ball Pythons Breeding?

[giambi4343]

today i woke up to see my two ball pythons with the tips of their tail interlocked with eachother. i couldnt see much but i took a few pictures. what do you think this is? breeding?

[Lankyrob]

I would say that they either have been or will be breeding. If you aren't intending to breed them then they should be kept separately.

[marvelfreak]

Boo chic wow wow! You have snake porn going on. Congrats!

[giambi4343]

i intended on breeding them i was just unsure of the "female". i know one was a male tho. so u think its definately snake porn goin on? hell yeah

[giambi4343]

i confirmed that they were mating. i eventually moved the tail slightly up to see if i could see any hemipenes or such exposed and there they were. implanted nicely into the female. they were courting for about 4 hours then released eachother after i took a peek sorry guys!
anyway, how long should i expect until i can plan on having the eggs laid?

[giambi4343]

i have read much about them on breeding. is it ok to keep the male and female with eachother year round or would i run into the problem of them not eating year round? both the male and female have not eaten for two weeks..... also, is there a set time period for ball python breeding or will they breed year round if left together in the same cage?

[Lankyrob]

Sounds like you need to do a lot more research and quick. Have you got an incubator etc ready for eggs??

[giambi4343]

i breed leopard geckos and bearded dragons so i have the incubating situation all figured out. but with leopards and beardies, you can leave them together year round and they only produce from march till august. im just new to the snake breeding and dont want to lose one of my snakes, from them not eating or being too stressed. thats why i ask if they can be left together year round ( like leopard geckos) or separate them and when? thank you

[Will0W783]

Yep, that's a lock. You should not keep the pair together year-round...snakes kept together often will not breed. It's something about how they get adapted to the other being around, although I'm not sure why exactly. Second, housing together will lead to unnecessary stress to both snakes. You need to do a LOT more research before attempting to breed your snakes, for their good and yours. I'm not trying to be hard on you, but putting a male and female together before you have know all the ins and outs of keeping the snakes, incubating the eggs, and caring for the babies is a bad idea.

Do you have an incubator ready to be set up if the female gets gravid?
Do you know the gestation period, the incubation period after laying, and the proper incubation temps/humidity?
Do you have a hatchling rack or other individual housing for the babies should the lock be successful?

I will help you out as much as possible, but you can't be too careful or do too much research before trying to breed snakes. I've been keeping snakes for 6 years and only attempted a breeding last year. I had a GTP die of pregnancy complications, and a Stimson's python lay a clutch that I lost in the incubator (my fault). I now have a second female Stimsons incubating her own clutch and at least one egg has gone bad.
There are a LOT of things that can go wrong- egg binding in the female, weakened state leading to illness while gravid, eggs dying during incubation, babies refusing to feed once hatched...the list goes on and on.

Congrats on the lock, and best of luck. But get on your research...I'd suggest becoming a good friend of Google and snake breeding books over the next few weeks.

[bci/boa75]

thats a good lock there mate all the best keep us postted

[giambi4343]

i have seen them lock about 5 more times since then. i believe the female has just ovulated. she got a little bloated and i have read that those are the signs for ovulation.