I’m looking for some advice. I’ve paired a male of mine with 2 different females for over 6 months now. I pair him with each girl once a month for 2-4 days and see locks every time. Both females are about the same age - 3-1/2 years old and both 1900-2000 grams. Wondering if my male isn’t fertile? Should I keep trying? Should I try a different male. I do have a normal male as well but was really hoping for some banana clown babies!
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Do you see any signs from either female? Water bowl wrapping, restless behavior, ovulation, refusing food? They can still go, I usually start introducing early like after Halloween and I will get locks for the next 3-4 months sometimes, but the earliest I have had my females lay is May the latest is September. So it doesn’t always depend on size, or when they started locking. It is up to them to decide when and if to go through with the whole process. The other thing I suggest is rechecking temps. If too high I think it really impacts fertility in both males and females. It also could be your male, but usually if I see locks the male gets the job done. I have on the other hand had a female that would not lay ever, so yes it can and does happen occasionally where a snake just can’t reproduce.
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What are your stats?
Heating, feeding etc. any pictures?
How big is the male?
I have paired for year before eggs, but thats rare.
or paired and no eggs.
edit, yes @banereptiles says Whats the behaviour?
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So one of them was bowl wrapping and seemed restless so I thought she was going to go. Then all of a sudden she stopped. One female is in a rack and the other a 2x4 pvc enclosure. The rack has belly heat set to 94 with a hot spot of 92 and 80 on the cool side, the pvc enclosure is 92-94 hot side and 82-84 on cool side. I’m not sure what to look for to tell if they are ovulating though. The one in the pvc just started to go into shed so hoping that’s her pre lay shed but her body doesn’t look like she has eggs in my opinion.
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Temps I just listed above. One female gets small rats every other week, the other an xl asf once a month (she’s big). The male is 2-1/2 years old but on the smaller side - 1000 grams on the head. He’s a picky eater and only eats live mice. Going to try to get him back on ASF’s in a couple months. Just don’t want him to not eat while I’m pairing him.
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The females look in good shape for breeding/laying to me. Your feeding schedule seems fine as well. The male should be a breeding maturity size at 2+ years for sure. To me your temps are too high. I would never go above 90 on the hot side and actually prefer 88 on the hot side and that gives me low 80s on the cooler side sometimes dropping into the high 70s if a cold night(I do not have a dedicated snake room and these are all rack/belly heat setups. It is hard to spot a ovulation all the time since it lasts around a day, but if you do see that you know your females are going to shell the ova and go through with laying for sure. Yours could still go, they could have reabsorbed or it could be too hot and either the male or female could not get or achieve fertilization. I would wait another month or so and see if anything behavior wise changes. If they shed twice relatively close it could be the second shed is a pre egg laying shed. You can also gently palpitate them to see if you can feel any lumps, with good sized females like yours it can be hard to tell until the eggs are larger. Good luck! Keep us posted, they are some beautiful females!
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Thanks for the advice. I’ll drop my temps a little. I keep my snakes in our basement and although it’s heated it is generally on the cooler side - 75-78 which is why I keep the belly heat a little on the higher side.
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Have to fully agree on the temps. Everything else and the pictures all lok and sound good. The high temps could be the problem. But this is debit able.
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So if she did have eggs and adsorbed them can she still produce eggs this season or is she done till next year? Don’t want to keep pairing her if there isn’t a chance at getting eggs.
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Maturity plays a role as well. I have had a much higher success rate with females that are 4+ years old.
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Unless you’re sure she ovulated, in which case she couldn’t reabsorb, it is hard to tell when or if she could lay. It is getting late for me in the season all my males are back eating and not interested anymore, but ball pythons can breed year around in captivity. If you have recorded a decent amount of locks, you are probably safe in not pairing anymore this season either way. She will either go late this year, or you could try pairing her next season, but she may use retained sperm to lay as well so keep track of the males she has been/will be paired with. Good luck with her!
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