Breeding one male to two females

[abel romero]

I have a delima. I have one male and two females. My male albino is currently courting a female and I have another female in a separate cage. My question is this. After my male is done mating with the female he has in his cage, should I feed him and wait a period of time, or should I immediatly place the second female in his cage? If anyone has any experience using one male to breed two or more females, I would realy appriciate any suggestions. Thanks

[Linda]

First I never put the female into the males cage. I put the male into the females cage. It's just the way I do it. The female is more comfortable in her own cage and you want the female to be calm and comfortable as possible.

I also continue to offer food to both the male and female until they refuse food on their own. I give them half what they normally get every two weeks. They never breed 24/7, so there's plenty of chances to clean, feed, check temps, and change water without bothering them. :)

I offer food to mine every two weeks. I seperate them for feeding. I leave them apart for 2 hours after they've eaten. Then I put them back together. They only get half their normal amounts of food. They go right back to courting/breeding.

I change the water daily during breeding season, which encourages the females to drink more water. I've read that females will drink more water to help with forming folicles. I don't know if they drink more water when forming folicles, but I do know they drink more when I change it daily. They just seem to like to drink more when the water is fresher.

I also clean the cages twice a week. They always go right back to breeding.

I don't know how your cage is set up, so I don't know if offering food during breeding season is an option for you. Some people cool their boas and if you cool it might be a bad idea to continue feeding. I keep a hot spot that's 92 degrees during breeding season, so I can feed mine.

Some females ovulate right away and the males don't get too tired. Some females take months before they finally ovulate. Then you have those stubborn females that "refuse" to ovulate, no matter how hard the male tries.

You just have to take it one day at a time. If you live in an area that has a more "harsh" winter climate (gets really cold in winter, snow and such), it might take longer for your females to ovulate. If you live in an area that has a "mild" winter climate (you might need a light jacket in winter. Calif or Florida is a good example), they might ovulate more quickly. I realize that the temps in the cages are controlled, but I've found the outside temps do make a difference. At least, that's the way it seems to be with my boas.

Anyway if your female ovulates fairly quickly, within 10 weeks of intoduction, you might be able to get him to do a second one. Feeding him and letting him rest might be a good idea, unless you cool your snakes for breeding. If you cool them, obviously you'd have to warm him up to feed him. Then he'd have to have time to digest and possibly poo. Then you'd have to cool him again.

If you don't cool them then go ahead and feed him. Giving him time to digest is probably a good idea too. Then he should be good to go again. Of course, some males won't eat during breeding season at all. If your male is one that refuses food during breeding season, then......

Actually you really need to try to give him a short break, reguardless of if he takes a meal in between females. There's no guarantee he will successfully breed the second one. There's not even a guarantee he will successfully breed the first one. All you can do is watch and wait.

Hopefully he will get the job done. :D

Just make sure when/if he finishes with the first female he's in good enough shape to do a second one. If he's looking thin, you might want to let him pass on the second. If he's still got good weight and looks really really good, then give him a shot at the second. It's important to put the health of your boas first. :)

[abel romero]

Thank you for the info. And as you suggested I will have to play it by ear. If my male looks healthy enough, I will go ahead and attempt to breed him to the other female. That is after I give him a break. I would like to hear from other breeders on this situation. Once again, any suggestions is apreaciated.

[Linda]

OK,
I'm in the process of breeding a second female to one of my males.

He finished the first one in record time. :D

He went straight to breeding the second one, within minutes, of being put in her cage.

He's an experienced aggressive breeder. He refuses food within a week of having been put in with a female, so I didn't offer him any food or even a break, in between females. I don't think my younger males would be able to do 2 females. They just work too hard on the first. This male is pretty smart about how he breeds. He does that on/off breeding until the females has a pre-ov swelling. Then, after the pre-ov he's on her almost 24/7. He only takes about 2 short breaks a day until the ovulation. He always stops breeding and "looks for the exit" when he's done. Either that or he sits on the opposite end of the cage from the female. He's pretty predictable and a bit rude about it. He gets her preggo and runs. LOL.

Anyway, I know he did the job with the first one, since she's already had a HUGE ovualtion. Actually she had two ovualtions. :) BTW those ovulations look pretty "painful" for the females. I don't know if they are or not, but..... They sure look like they are. :eek:

This is the first time I've ever attempted to have a male do 2 females. Hopefully all will go well. I'll post an update if there's anything to update later.

[abel romero]

Thanks for the info. I am not sure if he has done the job. I usually don't remove the male until she has gone into a shed. But please keep me posted. Thanks

[Linda]

If you can it's best to leave the male in until after the female has her POS or is in shed. I normally do, but this male is very predictable. He bred her all night last night and this morning he wanted out.

He's an aggerssive breeder and when he's done, he's done. The last time I didn't remove him when he was finsihed and he rubbed his nose raw trying to find another female. It didn't take that long either. He did it overnight. That mistake cost me 300 dollars in vet fees. Now when he's finished I have to remove him to another room to aviod the same problem. Fortunately he finished early and I had another female waiting for him. He's my favorite male Pastel Dream, so I try to be very careful with him. :)

Sorry, I guess I should have mentioned that potential problem if you have more than 1 female that wants to get bred. The scents the females give off can drive the males.... CRAZY.

[Linda]

Alright, I have an update. :)

His second female is ovulating now. I'll get pictures in the morning. He hasn't shown any interest in her for 2 days. He had been breeding her almost continuosly since they were put together. He did take a break here and there, but they were short breaks. Hopefully he had enough "male fluids" to do the job on both of them.

I almost wish I had a 3rd female for him. He seems to be on a roll. LOL.


OK, I have a 3rd female, but I think he's earned the rest of the season off.


OK, he's earned a few weeks rest. After he's had a rest I'll see how he looks. :)


I guess I should mention that the rest of my males are still working on their first female. I don't know why Muzik has gotten 2 females to ovulate this soon. It's still extremely early in the breeding season. That 3rd female I have is an Albino that's 8 years old. She's "never" ovulated and I've had males in with her for the past 4 breeding seasons. I'm really curious if Muzik could get the job done this year, but I don't want to push him too hard.

[Missi]

I'd say give the guy a break and get some food in him. Then maybe see if he's interested later on.

[Sunbino]

I agree give him a break. Hes ganna get stressed out L0L

[Linda]

He's still in with his second female. He's just chilling on the opposite side of the cage. He refused food this afternoon and at night he's searching for the escape hatch. I'll keep him in her cage until she has her POS or starts the shed cycle.

I'm going to give him 3 weeks off. Then I'll offer him food again. Unfortuantely he's the type of male that doesn't eat during breeding season, but I'll keep trying. He's still got really good weight. Of course, he's only been breeding for 10 weeks. The last time he ate was 6 weeks ago. Once the females have that pre-ov swell he totally loses his appetite.

Here's some pictures of Jazz. She's the second one he's gotten to ovulate. This picture was taken today. It's been 18 days after they were first put together.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/majikboa/DSCN4651.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/majikboa/DSCN4650.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/majikboa/DSCN4649.jpg