Decided to put this all together into a nice neat topic of its own, as I’d like to log all of my experiences with my very first breeding season. I feel it would be good learning material for other first-time breeders.
I do not have an ultrasound, so I’ve mainly been tracking things via palpating for follicles weekly and watching behaviors.
I will slowly be adding to this as I go through the season. Excited to share my progress!
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Banan x Ava
1.0 banana yellowbelly x 0.1 pastel het VPI axanthic
Confirmed locks: 11
First lock - 09/11/19
Last lock - 02/14/20
I was pairing them approximately every 2 weeks. Note that this is the only pairing that I’ve done this with.
Ava was being an extremely picky eater at the beginning of the season, and after doing research about it determined that this could be due to her wanting to breed. Sure enough, after one lock she started eating regularly.
Ava was very much a tail wagger, it was a sight to see.
Ava did not show any signs of building, as I didn’t really notice her cool-seeking.
Ava took an exceptionally long time to lay her eggs, though this is not unheard of for females to do. She did not show any signs of distress or lethargy so I waited patiently, and she eventually laid.
She almost immediately went back on food and has been a voracious eater since. I am confident she will be back up to weight and will possibly breed again next season.
2 eggs went bad a few weeks into incubation, were likely infertile or just not strong enough. The remaining 6 look to have strong, healthy veins.
1 egg got a small hole in it that started seeping due to me attempting to dab some moisture off, but a bandaid appears to have remedied the problem. Will update on if this egg makes it full term.
Butters has an abscess in her lower jaw. Because of this, I originally did not plan to breed her. However, she started showing signs of wanting to breed so I put Almond in with her and they locked up. It didn’t take too long before she ovulated.
Butters also locked up with Peanut (butter spinner) a few times about a year ago, so there’s a chance for retained sperm. I’m hoping Almond sires the clutch as they would produce more BELs.
I determined that this must have been her ovulation as she is no longer as swollen nor can I feel the follicles in her anymore.
Prelay Shed
TBD
Egg Laying
TBD
Egg Hatching
TBD
Notes
Charlie has shown more signs of building by spending most of her time on the cool side of her tub, sometimes loosely wrapped around her water bowl.
Since she only had 4 follicles that I could feel, she didn’t get as “hard” as the other females have during ovulation.
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Banan x Gwen
1.0 banana yellowbelly x 0.1 spider
Confirmed locks: 2
As of 06/05/20:
Currently feel approximately 8 penny-sized follicles in her.
Ovulation
TBD
Prelay Shed
TBD
Egg Laying
TBD
Egg Hatching
TBD
Notes
Gwen showed signs of wanting to breed by going off of food suddenly when she was a voracious feeder previously. Once paired she immediately resumed feeding like usual.
Thank you so much. Your notes are really interesting especially for people like me who want to try breeding Ball Pythons in the future and currently have a rack full of young snakes that aren’t ready.
You’re welcome!
I’ve certainly learned a lot just going through the season and seeing things first-hand, though most breeders who put out guides only have generalized ones. Not all of the females follow that generalization so I think going more in-depth for each pairing I’ve done would be useful for showing just how different each female is when it comes to breeding.
Gwen is off food again, but is also showing a bit of a build as well. Her follicles are growing pretty quickly compared to my other females.
Based on my palpations I’m feeling 8-9 follicles… so we should get a nice sized clutch from her.
Another one of Ava’s eggs went bad. It is day 40 so I am confident the rest will make it to term. I suspect these eggs died due to poor fertility from Banan, as he was only 500 grams when he started breeding (though he is nearly 800 grams now.)
The baby looked to have been developing somewhat normally. I’m a little sad to see that it didn’t make it, though I wonder what genetics it had… again considering the pairing was banana yellowbelly x pastel het vpi
Gwen has ovulated rather quickly compared to my other females, considering I first paired her in early May. She was likely further along in follicular development than I thought.
I also noticed one baby’s yolk/fluid looked solid white and was firm, like cooked egg whites.
Its head was stuck in this mass, so I carefully pulled it apart to free the baby.
Unfortunately this baby looks severely deformed, and I don’t think it’ll survive. It was in the smallest egg, though I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it.
This entire clutch has been a bit weird, considering I had 2 eggs die a couple weeks into incubation, and 1 egg die a week or so after that with the partially formed baby in it. Some of the other babies look to have nub tails as well, so I suppose we’ll see how they come out of the egg.
I don’t think it’s an issue with my incubator, as it’s been set at 89°F and sits around the 88°F-90°F range. It has not had any temperature spikes as far as I’m aware of.
I had a bit of humidity issues for a bit but corrected it rather quickly by replacing the press n deal I had on the tubs, so I doubt it’s that either.
Butters’ clutch on the other hand still looks healthy and plump, besides one that started dimpling a bit. Her clutch is on day 41.
It’s a really pretty one! I’m thinking it also has pastel or super pastel, definitely not just an axanthic I don’t think. Though I won’t know for sure until I ask the breeder who owned the female before me what she was last paired to.
I think and hope that it is super pastel, because that black is too dark and that white is too bright just to be an axanthic. Please please keep us posted on the that little baby.
I’ll certainly be keeping this updated on how the clutch does. I’m hoping the others besides the tiny one are able to survive/thrive, and any with deformities I’ll likely rehome as pet-only.
I’ll keep the axanthic one regardless, just because it’s a special one.
Unfortunately this little one died already. I took them out again to briefly show my boyfriend (he had just gotten off work) and it was no longer moving and limp to the touch.
I carefully cleaned it off, removed the white mass, and put it in the freezer. Perhaps someone else could use it as a feeder.
The other banana lookin baby came out! It popped as a female (I can see scent glands, but no obvious hemipenes like with the male) so I’m hoping it is indeed a female. She’s got a bit of a lumpy belly going on though I assume that’s just her egg yolk inside her or something along those lines, as she wasn’t hard to the touch or anything. Very squishy noodle!
The Almond x Butters clutch started pipping this morning, so I went ahead and cut the rest of the eggs as well.
Looks like we got 3 butter mystic and 4 mystics. All of the babies look healthy at a glance.
Very different results in terms of viability from the Banan x Ava clutch.
Charlie was also due to lay two days ago, but has not yet. I’ve been checking her at least once a day to see if she’s laid yet, but hopefully she’ll lay soon!
I assume that’s just her egg yolk inside her or something along those lines, as she wasn’t hard to the touch or anything. Very squishy noodle!
