breeding darwins

[beardy_boy_6]

hi need a bit of help with the cooling of my darwins. when should i start bringing the temp back up and putting the male with the female? right now day temps are about 25 cheers

 

[beeman]

Are these the ones you have just purchased?

 

[beardy_boy_6]

yes that would be them

 

[beeman]

My advise to you would be to forget about trying this year and let the snakes settle into their new home .The shift may well be enough to negate any attempt to breed this year
{stress of the shift and settling in time etc}
Get yourself a copy of keeping and breeding Australian Pythons and study it in relation to your pythons reproductive needs{ timing your cooling, mating etc} and then have a crack next season.

 

[beardy_boy_6]

yer thats what i was thinking but the breeder i got them off said y not give it a crack u never no. but yer if i still try it this year any help would be great cheers

 

[wranga]

sounds like good advice from beeman. think of your snakes, not the money you might make from breeding them

 

[beeman]

They should of been started on thier cooling process in the autumn and be right in the middle of it now and mating would be starting about now onwards.
The temps they should be on now is day time 32 for about 6 hours and ambient temps for the night phase, Now i wouldnt suggest that you just drop them to these temps straight away as you may cause health problems for your pythons this has to be done very gradually to achieve the final result of matings and egg development

 

[Chrisreptile]

And next season the snakes will have more condition and you will be more prepared

 

[pythons73]

Im not having a go at you Beardy Boy,but you have only just purchased them,as beeman suggested,let them settle into their new enviroment.Breeding snakes is not as simple as putting a male-female together,it has happpened.The snakes need to be in top health,and already in the cooling process,i thimk Darwins are starting to mate about this time of year.You have plenty of time to breed them,think about next year,the snakes health are more important than a hatchies,....

 

[beardy_boy_6]

cheers guys looks like we might wait till next sesson then. they are already being cooled as the last owner started that. right now there night temps are about 13 i have been droping it slowly as was the last owner. cheers anyway

 

[Colin]

Good advice from Beeman but... If the snakes are mature and in breeding condition, and were being cooled by their previous owner (I dont know?) I think its ok to give it a go personally.

Of course if they are not in breeding condition, mature or cooled then maybe its wise to wait.

I personally dont believe that some species need a long "settling in period" I've bought animals from interstate before and for example one proven breeding male was flown from SA to Sydney picked up from the airport and put straight in (I was confident of no disease etc) with a female and within hours was locked into her for 18 hours solid. And the female produced a clutch that year.

There are always exceptions though and each animal should be assessed individually as to whether its ready or not to attempt breeding.
But if in doubt... best idea is to wait.