Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Scott W]

Speaking to different breeders it seems like the captive ball breeding season is spread throughout most of the year with breeders hatching pythons from early April up to late October.

This is obviously totally out of sync with the wild populations that all hatch in or around April.

My own pythons have all laid relatively close together, first approx 4 weeks ago and another 2 to lay within 3 weeks, so overall within a 2 month season, that was out of 8 clutches.

Has anyone else with a number of females (3 or more) still had clutches months apart?

Why do you think some females don't lay until late summer while others are only a month or so behind their wild counterparts?
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[MJ]

it could be becuase people start the cooling cycle later? in the wild they have a more or less clock work aproach to the seasons (more or less).

Dont breed ball pythons yet but I figure it most probably is that
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Paul

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[Scott W]

that's true Paul but that 'should' only push everyone back a few months not spread the actual egg laying out over many, many months.

Like I said I know some breeders who'll have eggs hatching NOW but don't expect their last clutches to be late until late summer, that's the thing that puzzles me.

Perhaps it's because people cool them for far longer than in the wild, therefore giving them a longer breeding window.
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[snakeypete]

good question. if breeders are rotating males thru their females over a four month period then that would influence the expected ( if successful lock up ). egg lay ...some may take at the end of that period , thus you would have a clutch that could be three or four months apart from one who say locked up successfully at the start of the season . then ya got the 'Loooong wait ' till hatching as well !
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[jamie_s]

i dunno why some females are slower to go than other???good qeustion though.from the three female i mated my mojave male to 1 laid 25 day ago 1 laid yesterday and one is about 3 weeks away,not exactly radical time differances but all where side by side in my rack and all where rotated with the male equelly
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[Scott W]

you expecting many clutches Jamie?
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[ballmorph]

My females lay months apart, I have some clutches already and still have females developing follicles which at the moment are quite small so won't be laying for a couple of months. I had the same thing last year too.

[Scott W]

how many weeks did you cycle the male through Adam? Mine were in with the females for almost 4 months, although the last month was probably back up to normal temps.
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[ballmorph]

December to March, but I'll keep putting the males after these dates while they're still interested in the girls. I'm quite glad it's all spread out though, otherwise I'd need another incubator!

[ballmorph]

What is also interesting is last season I started cycling in Novemeber so a full month earlier than this season, but the females have started laying earlier this season than last... Go figure???