So i recently got a female almost 1000 grams in size and have had 2 males next to each other but switched to now the females in the middle of the 2 other tanks a few weeks ago the larger 1 became a lot more active and “aggressive” (he trasnslates to defensiveness all the time) and the smaller male went into hiding basicly could the female have started an ovulation cycle and they picked up on it i keep forgetting to post and ask but its been on my mind
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they’re usually meaner in the winter, not the spring, although I’ll say I have some males who just won’t get along when they’re close in general and need separated by a ways, so they can’t see each other from tubs, smell each other, etc., but a female almost 1000 grams is awfully small to worry about anything in regards to breeding, 1.5k grams is around the generally accepted mark, I’ll breed at 1.3k though if it’s an older female. It could also just be spring, just in general that’s when animals are going to start getting more active, males start looking for food again, days get longer
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Ok i wasnt sure if they could start cycles then or not im not planning to breed for a couple years still at least if i do maybe thats all it was is that they saw her coming out more at night and she intimidates the smaller 1 and thr bigger guy is just reacting to the season change and her being next to him and wanted to have an attitude again
I don’t breed but I have not noticed my males being “meaner in the winter”, and all of my animals are kept in the same vicinity……
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How recently did you get this female? And how long ago did you put her in an enclosure next to your males?
It might just be the males sensing the female, but a behavioral change in other snakes after getting a new snake could be caused by something completely unrelated.
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It was the end of march when we got her and set her up heres a picture of the proximity of the tanks im used to iron man being grumpy though he was just grumpier than usual lol and flame i just think might be intimidated by her since she is so much larger than him the males used to be side by side until she came in and i moved flame over to the other side
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I would have recommended quarantining her (and any new arrival) in a separate room for at least 3-6 months to prevent possible spread of pathogens, parasites and illness. It’s an important biosecurity protocol that many people neglect until there’s an incident. In most cases you may get lucky and everything is fine, but I’ve encountered some really sad situations recently where people brought home a new snake, didn’t think to quarantine and ended up spreading something fatal to their others
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She came from an expo so i didnt think of that definitely will in the future if i bring any more home i thought that just keeping her seperate from them and washing between handling the different snakes was enough
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Yep they need to be quarantined reguardless of where they come from, and they need to be in entirely seperate rooms while they are being quarantined. A few inches from each enclosure is not enough…
Imho an animal that is brought home from an expo, with an exception to wild animals, are at the highest risk for spreading diseases or parasites since they are brought to an event filled with hundreds of animals with hundreds of different backgrounds and care regimens, you don’t know who handled them before you bought them or if their hands were clean. They could pick up anything from an expo, they could be exposed to ill animals, wild caught animals… you name it.
This is why it is a very strict rule of mine when I vend that no one is allowed to touch or handle my animals unless they intend on purchasing that animal.
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Thats good to know i was thinking that it would be the least risk since they are selling at a venue i thought that there would be some sort of regulation that the animals that were brought had to be healthy
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I absolutely agree with this. Various venues handle things in various ways. No matter what they do, it’s possible for an apparently healthy animal to be carrying a pathogen of some type. Maybe this isn’t visibly affecting them at home, but they can still pass it to others. Maybe the stress of the expo, which is potentially very stressful for them causes them to be newly susceptible to something. This can take weeks to become noticeable.
It doesn’t matter at this point for your current group of animals. Hopefully they will all continue to be fine. Now you know, in case you get any more animals in the future.
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Deffinitly will if i do in the future hope its all fine i havent noticed anything with her yet and besides the other snakes acting a bit different with her there physically they seem fine to still eating amd drinking and all that good stuff is normal and she was very active when i was handling her for tank cleaning and when i got her out forba longer period the other night she was great exploring got a little huffy? Whatever u wanna call it puffy? She made these short little puff sounds a couple times when i moved and she was wrapped around my leg and had been out a while but i let her back in her tank and she was just fine after that i think she was just done for the day
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Unfortunately not, the barrier to entry for selling at an expo is remakably low, most of the ones I’ve been to let anyone who can pay the $100 table fee sell animals. I’ve seen more unhealthy, mislabeled, underweight and neglected animals at expos than almost anywhere else (other than craigslist). Maybe some of the bigger, better ones vet breeders a bit more, but at the end of the day, literally anyone can toss a few animals together, hatch out eggs and call themselves a breeder. Personally I don’t buy from expos at all (unless it’s a prearranged pickup), and prefer to pick out, purchase and have my animal sent directly from the breeder. I still do a full six month quarantine in a separate room with all precautions, but that way I can really look into the breeder beforehand
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