I have been searching the internet for information on this topic and have come up short so I decided to post this question here: if there is a better resource please let me know!
In regards to breeding BPs, it seems the majority of people breeding are using tub systems. So much so that I cant find any resources on breeding within a 48x24x12 PVC enclosures (421D from Boaphiles or similar)
Is it advisable to do this? Lets say a person had a stack of 3 PVC enclosures, with a male and two females occupying them (1 in each, no cohabitation outside of pairings during breeding season). Could you move the male between his enclosure and the two female’s enclosures? Or would it be better to move the females into a rack/tub system for the breeding season through ovulation and laying? Or if you are planning on breeding is it best to just keep your breeding males in females in tubs year round?
Thank you in advance for your advice and tutelage. I am getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus (20 years ago when I was a child my dad bred Leopard and Madagascar Ground Geckos, had a floor to ceiling green iguana enclosure in our basement, we had a bunch of lizards, corn snakes, etc) and am trying to provide the best husbandry I can. Currently I only have a single female pied, but my ambition is to get into breeding after a couple more winters.
Take everything I say with a spoon of uneducated salt.
In regards to your enclosures, they are fine for breeding dependant on one thing… Are the animals happy in them.
Each snake is individual and you could have 10 females breeding perfectly fine and 5 not up for it at all.
If they are happy feeding in them on a regular basis without issue I would expect it to be fine.
Ball pythons are slightly touchy but quite easy to read compared to a lot of others out there.
Get your animals, watch how they behave in the enclosures and make decisions based on each snake.
One might need to go in a tub, they all might or they might be fine as they are.
Hopefully someone that knows what they are talking about will chime in though and give you some first had experiences
I appreciate the response, thank you. I have a tendency to overthink things, but I want to do things correctly and give my snakes the best quality of life possible.
That’s what this is all about, if you can provide your snakes a good quality of life then it doesn’t matter how you house them or breed them as long as they have a good quality of life.
Ball pythons will breed in anything. As longs as your meeting there husbandry requirements and healthy you should have no problems. I move the males into the females enclosures but I don’t think it would make a difference either way. I wouldn’t keep them together year round even if there breeding. I leave the male in the females enclosure 3 to 5 days. I continue feeding males and females on the same schedule. I offer food even if there refusing. I don’t pair my females as often as others do. Usually once a month if I visually see them breed. Sometimes I will do twice in a month if the male I’m using isn’t breeding with a large number of females. I usually try not to pair my males with more than 3 females a season. But I also keep a lot of males.
My pair of ball pythons live in individual 4ftx2ftx2ft PVC enclosures and breed just fine =) Gives my male some extra exercise following her around. He eventually locks and get the job done.
How difficult is it to get the female off the eggs once she lays? I have plenty of trouble convincing my female to get out of her hide in the back corner for cleaning day sometimes
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily hard. You just want to be careful of her eggs. I use a snake hook to uncoil them. They will sometimes be aggressive depending on the female. After you remove the eggs you will want to clean the females entire enclosure and clean her as well. Otherwise she will pace the cage looking for her eggs. On the plus side ball python bites aren’t very painful lol.
Hahahaha!!! I’ve got both racks and 2 PVC enclousures. I moved my big girl into the rack mostly because getting her out of the PVC is a pain and wasn’t looking forward to that PLUS her hopefully being on eggs. I’ve been tagged, and actually, it wasn’t that bad. Funny thing was, I knew as soon as I put my hand into his enclosure, I was gonna get grabbed, but my brain didn’t tell my hands fast enough
@solsticeroyals I was only kidding! I’ve never been bit taking a ball python off her eggs. Now I have had short tail pythons get me but they are much bigger and stronger. And it will be much better with her in the rack. I pull the whole tub and put it on the floor so there is more room to work with. Just take your time and be mindful of her eggs and you while be fine.
Lol I’m not concerned… comes with the territory and Lord knows I’ve had worse scrapes with concrete and fists
Thats a GREAT idea utilizing the floor!! thank you!!! I’ve slowly been soaking in all the info on here and it’s been fantastic to have a helpful community!!
@solsticeroyals If you ever have any questions involving breeding and keeping ball pythons I’m more than happy to answer them! I’ve also bred all 3 short tail pythons, children’s pythons, and African house snakes. So i can help with those as well! Best of luck!!!
@saleengrinch@erie-herps I am 18 months into the hobby myself and have yet to be bitten. I kind of wanted to get it out of the way when mine were smaller lol so I wouldn’t be worried about it but I guess I’ve just gotten a docile lot so far. Probably won’t happen til I have a nippy baby
Not too worried about it I got tagged a few times by big mean water snakes as a kid and none were worse than a cat scratch! Now those can hurt lol!
