Farrah Comes Through Again

[KG Constrictors]

My super salmon female had 21 healthy babies yesterday at day 100 since her POS. She once again had zero slugs.

Pics coming soon.

The dad is the same sire to last years litter of 22. He is a nice high orange male.

Kevin

[lhcfireman]

Congrats on the new additions. Any pics yet?

[Ranger]

Congrats!

[KG Constrictors]

I will post pics tomorrow. My computer is having issues and I am building a new one now. Time for an upgrade. I will post them from work. All babies are doing great. Mom is doing fine too.

[KG Constrictors]

http://www.kgconstrictors.com/babyboas.htm


All 21 babies are doing fine, I will sex them and take individual shots after they shed.

[Chubbz]

congrats...i got 2 more years before my girl can go

[KG Constrictors]

I will take some individual shots soon, waiting for them to shed. I am wondering if I should give the mom a year off from breeding. She is in excellent shape and this was her second litter. I am wondering if a year off would be good for her or if I should breed her a 3rd straight year. I want her to live a long healthy life and I know breeding can take a toll on their bodies.

Thoughts?

[devboy]

First of all, congrats on an excellent littler for the second time running! The babies look gorgeous. I look forward to any updated pix that follow. :D

Secondly, I'll be interested in the response you get from your question. I elected to give my Argentine a year off last year from breeding, she's only been bred from three times, the last litter gave me 22 neonates. She has always produced some slugs and a few still born however (and this is with frequent introductions from November to March). She always makes good weight btw.

The reason I wanted to give her a year off, was I wanted to see if it made any difference to her number of slugs and still born. I'll post pix next July/August and only then will I know.

The other aspect of your question, the possibility of shortening life, I believe is dependant on the boa itself. Some people seem to have boas that produce annually and live long lives, whether they would live any longer if given rests every 3-4 times they were bred from is hard to prove as they weren't and can't live two lives to compare from! If in good breeding condition (and yours is clearly very good not to produce any slugs, with a good pairing too from a male firing 'on all cylinders'), then maybe another year before offering her a break would be acceptable. My own preference is to give a year off every 3rd or so year but this is more of a subjective decision than a hard and fast rule that must be applied to all boas everywhere.

My own thinking, is that Argentines probably only breed every other year in the wild*, although they won't get dinner on a plate or temperatures to suit them, not to the extent that we can provide them in captivity anyway. I presume a similar pattern exists for other B. constrictor subspecies?

I hope I don't get slated for this post, this is just my opinion at this time, which can be changed depending on hearing others experiences and opinions. If it couldn't, it would be dogma, always willing to learn. Be interested to hear others thoughts on this. My knowledge of anything other boid than Argentines is pretty scant I'm afraid, my real bag is 'ratsnakes', so feel free to treat my post with the disdain a little snake enthusiast deserves! :p

* Bertona, M., Chiaraviglio, M. 2003. Reproductive Biology, Mating Aggregations, and Sexual Dimorphism of the Argentine Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor occidentalis) Journal of herpetology. 37(3). 510-516

[KG Constrictors]

Thanks Devboy. I am hoping Jeff may chime in on this one as well. I am wondering if I give her a year off would it mess her up for the following year, if it ain't broke don't fix it type of scenario. She seems to do well during the process. I feed her 2 large rats a week from july through almost halloween and then she doesn't eat until just after her POS which is a small meal.

I would assume in nature that boas may not breed yearly if they do not build up enough food reserve? Anyway I really want to feel as if I am not taxing my girl. if she is ok for breeding yearly then I am all for it, I hope to put her with a nice salmon next time and get some possible supers and cleaner patterns etc.

All the babies shed this past Monday which was a week and a day since their birth so tonight they will get their first meal.

More pics to come soon.

[KG Constrictors]

All 21 of her babies have shed and all but one ate last night. I fed them all live pinky mice. I usually give them their first couple of meals live before switching to frozen thawed. I will post new pics tonight.

[Chubbz]

congrats