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reproduction at....
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by gelousnake on December 1, 2003
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I have some ammodytes and I want to knpw what should I do to make them "proceed to reproduction".Lot of thanks by now.
Gelousnake
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RE: reproduction at....
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by TomT on December 1, 2003
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I have to preface this by saying that I've never kept these animals, but if I had them this is what I'd try to get them to breed:
I'd brumate them at 55 degrees (make sure they had had a chance to expell any recent meals and lower the temperature gradually over a two week period) for 5-6 weeks, then warm them up gradually to whatever your "standard" day and night time temperatures are for starters.... offer them lots of food and then introduce the female into the male's enclosure right after she's had a shed.... During brumation I keep it dark where my snakes are, and I make sure they've got plenty of water to drink. If any animal shows sign of distress or weight loss, then I would warm it up a little more quickly and attend to whatever is ailing it.
Brumation is a time of fasting. The offering of large quantities of food (a tip here is to offer small meals on a frequent basis for best results) will allow the female to put on some weight (fat) that can be converted to follicles after breeding. One thing that I had a time understanding early on in my attempts to beed reptiles is that unlike mammals, females do not have any "eggs" waiting to be fertilized. The "eggs" must be metabolized from fat reserves and that is why it is important to have adequate reserves of fatty tissue (for her). I like to keep males somewhat on the thin side... notice I said somewhat... not emaciated looking... as fat males make bad breeders, in my experience.
Another "trick" is to use multiple males, or a freshly shed skin of a potential "rival" male to encourage the breeding. Male snakes want to pass on their genetic material (it isn't like they lay around thinking about it or something LOL) and any competition will definitely light a fire under their bellies to get them interested in breeding ANY and ALL females in the neighborhood, to prevent a rival from being able to do the same... it isn't a congitive decision, but I have used a shed on more than one occasion to get an otherwise LAZY male to breed... it is possible to use the shed of a male that isn't even sexually mature to have the desired effect....
Think in terms of breeding Cornsnakes... if you can or have done that, then your more than likely most of the way there.... Oh, and one last small (not really small) detail... it is critical to ensure you have at least one animal of each sex... many a breeding program has faltered due to the fact that the wanna be breeder is trying to get two males or two females, more of than not sold to the person as a "pair" to breed... it won't work :-)
Tom Townsend
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