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 #2072450

 Quick Feeding Question

 #2072459

 Quick Feeding Question

 #2072674

 Quick Feeding Question

 #2072809

 Quick Feeding Question

Well, in the northern hemisphere, it’s just about to start I would say...when the nights are cooler, and the daytime lighting is shorter.

Many people will "cool" their breeders down for a few weeks to get them ready for the breeding season. Which is typically done in the fall/winter because it’s easier for the reptile keeper to do so. If the outside of the house/apartment (whatever) is cooler, than the inside is easier to keep cool.

For the cool down period the lighting is gradually changed (if you use artificial lighting) so that at the height of the cool cycle the lights are only on for about 8 hours. And the cage temperature is gradually dropped to 78 degrees in the cool spot and 84 degrees in the basking spot during the daytime.

Some people don’t cool their boas. Some people just put pairs together and leave them together for a few months until they think the female is plumping up or until they’ve determined that no breeding has happened. The boas sense the season change and don’t necessarily need the intervention of humans to tell them what nature intended.

Other people use the signals given to them by their male boas. A male that is cruising his cage more than the normal "nightly cruise" may be on the hunt for a female. I can tell which of my males are ready when they start becoming much more active rubbing their noses on the sides of their enclosures (usually resulting in some minor rostral trauma). On feeding day they will they won’t be interested in food, and they will lunge out of their enclosures the seek out available females....some males even make a bee-line for certain female’s cages (a good indicator that that female is sexually mature....and the male can sense it).

Another sure sign that the male is ready to breed is seeing sperm plugs.

I had a male Nic last year that I had no intention of breeding last year, but he had already gone off feed, and was producing sperm....so I put him in with an available female, they were locked up within 18 hours of introduction. That was last October. I have another male producing sperm now....so for me the breeding season starts in the fall.

If I start my cool down lower / light cycle now, I generally see breeding in November and December. Ovulation is typically in Jan-Feb. But that’s just me. I know of a fellow in Michigan that has had his boas locked up since July.

Breeding season typically ends when the nights start warming up and the photoperiod is longer. Sometime after the spring equinox. If I have a male go off feed now and I don’t put him with a female he will usually go back to feeding regularly around march-april.

But every boa is different... Some males never go off feed, some never go back to feeding once they go off (although I’ve only heard of that with males that were actually paired with females).

Probably more information than you wanted, sorry...couldn’t help myself :)

Amie

 #2073184

 Quick Feeding Question