I’ll keep this as short as I can. I am considering breeding my bci pair next year, and of course have been doing research. I wanted to post this here to get the input of more experienced people if my outline is correct
If any information is wrong or should be changed please let me know, I want to, of course, do this correctly.
March/April; Light cycles are 10-12 hours/just normal daylight
September; Lower temps ect
In late october; Introduce pairs.
Night time temp; 75
Day ambient; 83
Hotspot; 90 for 8 hours
Occasionally bump up hotspot to 93 for 8 hours. Especially after feeding if the snakes will take food.
8 hours of light
Mist with warm water once a day, allowing it to swing back down to low
Do not mistake courting for breeding.
Ovulation looks like a large swelling. Is hard as well.
Once the female ovulates
Night ambient; 78
Day ambient; 86
Hotspot; 94
128 days from ovulation to babies, possible 2 weeks and a shed
Following that should definitely yield Results for you. They’re pretty easy to breed. I changed absolutely nothing with my enclosure temperatures, etc., put a male in in January, female is currently pregnant.
I don’t really think you need to make it that complicated. I didn’t cycle any temps or lights for my boas and so far had 2 successful litters. The tricky part is really getting to know your animals, when to pair, when to pull, how to feed, etc.
The first pairing attempt I made I started out feeding the female medium rats every 2-3 weeks vs her normal large/XL once a month, and the male got his normal small but every 2 weeks instead of 3. After what I thought was an ovulation, I waited for the male to avoid her for at least 3 straight days without any visits to her and separated. She remained swollen and looked gravid until I decided to move all the snakes to a bigger room, and then was also told not to feed during courtship/gestation. Nothing ever cam of that pairing, and she didn’t slug out. So back to giving her food and building her back up to try again the following fall. (Good to note here I also tried pairing her during the summer ~April, the litter that took I paired Oct-Dec).
The following season, I stuck to my guns and she got a medium every 2 weeks while being courted, and a small every 2 weeks while gravid. This time I got a litter. Lol
The other litter I paired, I got babies the first try. But this time I decided to try feeding her much larger meals a little less often than normal. 250-300 gram rats every 6 weeks or so vs her normal 160-180 gram rats every 4 weeks. She ended up refusing to eat before ovulating and then dropped 3 weeks late. This coming season I might try her on her normal size rats during courtship and then a small or weaned rat if she takes and see if she still refuses.
So the most I do is change feeding during courtship but not really anything else, and not as much food as I hear others use. Once they give birth I feed them pretty heavily. Not necessarily as much as they’re willing to eat, my goal is to give them an entire year between pairings and not force them into another ovulation or anything.
I would say it is complicated to breed boas and some may say they cycle while other’s say they dont. I think a misconception is that boas are not being cycled when in reality they are. You could maintain a hotspot and the temps in the room can naturaly cycle themselves. Even a heated or cooled room will naturaly cycle. Heat indexes also create variation of what that 90 degree hotspot actualy feels like to your snake which is dependent not only on if you were to spray the inside cage or outside room floors but also the external atmosphere of your room or outside. Especially on very dry or very wet days. This changes presures which snakes can detect. The pressure changes during hot/cold and dry or wet seasons is what makes your hot spot feel different to the snak. Many snakes will self regulate and seldomly stay on the hotspot for more then a few days if properly set. This is why you can breed your boas at any point of the year as long as the conditions are optimal for breeding your snake. You could take it a step further and assume the snake is acclimated to your region if held for one full year in the conditions you intend to breed in.
I would say alot depends on the type of thermostat, room enviorment, geographical season, heat source and lighting. Your boa should have appropriate muscle mass along with fat reserves and age before attempting to breed. If you research where you snake is from and copy that habitate natural cycles and animals conditioning then you should have no issue given age and size is appropriate.
Hopefully the picture bellow help you with ovulation because its not as simple as you think. Its more subtle and the hard football mass you see is the tail end of the full ovulation cycle. There are more subtle ques that leads up to the ovulation. I would also say dont take your male out even if you see ovulation because you dont know if the job is complete.
The key is the same time when feeding multiple snakes in an enclosure. I would even add barriers or hides to block line of sight with plenty of distance between them.
I dont think training has anything to do with it. I am sure you will run into problems if one finishes before the other and there is no barier in between. I would think hog island boas are more docile than a blood boa or other boas and maybe thats why you have not ran into an issue. However, its not wise advice to feed your animals in this manner and you are just waiting for them to fight over it or should i say roll over it because thats basically what they do. It becomes a tangled mess.
@thebeastiary have you seen the boa constrictor video. Large segment on hog island boas. I think its in the middle.
I suggest never feeding breeding boas in the same enclosure. I do it with some species, but I’ve done it for the last time with boa constrictors. A Hypo VPI Het Blood female ate my Blood Motley Het VPI male last season. She survived regurgitating him but it was touch and go getting her through it. And of course I lost a $3000 boa.
Wow. I wouldnt think they would actually eat them. I know king snakes will eat other snakes but never seen red tail boas actually attempt to eat each other. I have seen them strike each other and do this tangle tango spin thing that I say is a fight or defense against each other but to actually eat each other is against their demeanor.
Sorry you witnessed that and had to go through something like that. I can get prety upset when anything goes wrong with my animals but that would realy be a heart break.
Hope your doing better now.
Also my reply or comment was in response to another comment sugesting feeding breeding pairs in same cage or multiple animals in same set up. Which was deleated.
Just making it clear that i dont recommend that, although, I have done it with supervision of animals.
