At what age or weight can I breed my male and/or female Kenyan Sand Boa?

Here’s a question I answer at least 10 times a week….


At what age or weight can I breed my male and/or female Kenyan Sand Boa?

A: Females can breed as small as 200 grams (approx. 2 years) but the risk factors of breeding a female at that small of a size are very high. We have bred and received already gravid females that were in the 200 gram range and with the exception of one of them, all of them have either since passed on or have experienced severe eating disorders since dropping their litters. In addition, a 200 gram female is only going to give you 4-6 babies and chances are half those will be still born. If you have a 200 gram female and you are dying to breed her you need to realize that with some heaving feeding over the course of a few months you can easily have a 300 gram female that will give you a larger litter, healthier babies and have a much better chance of resuming eating and giving you a litter the following year. In most cases we will not breed our females until they reach 400 grams to ensure the safe health of the mother and her babies. You have to think of your snakes health in the long term, a few extra months of waiting is well worth the wait, compared to causing your snake severe health issues over the rest of its life.

Males on the other hand are known to breed as small as 50 grams or about a year old. The only problem with introducing a 50 gram male to a female is that he may go off feed and when they are only 50 grams they really shouldn’t be losing too much weight. I have successfully bred multiple 50 gram males but I would recommend keeping their workload to one female or maybe two at the tops. You don’t want your male to literally breed himself to death. This doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue with males in their second season or upwards of a 100 grams as they tend to do one of two things; 1) the older males will eat while they are breeding, or 2) they will lose a surprisingly small amount of weight over breeding season. As an example, I have a male Nuclear who started the breeding season weighing a robust 135 grams (which brings up a good point, if you know the male is going to be breeding multiple females, fatten him up in the offseason) and after breeding to 5 different females and refusing to eat for about 4 months he weighed 122 grams. I pulled him out of his last charges cage a few weeks ago and three days later he started eating again. On the other hand, we have a nice reduced patterned anery who I pulled out every week from a females cage and fed him, he bred four females this year and ate every week that he was offered food. The important factor to consider with the males is how much weight are they losing, if it is minimal you are probably safe to keep him going but if you see drastic weight loss, 20% or more, you need to discontinue his breeding until he begins eating again.

Nuclear Update

Here's a video of our gravid Nuclear female...twice a day I anxiously open her tub to find her fatter....today is her due date! More waiting......

Nuclear Female Gravid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvID5LpJ5EE


This is our Nuclear male, he bred 5 females this season. The day I finally pulled him out of the girls tubs he ate after not eating the entire spring, it was as if he knew his job was done...hasn't missed a meal since.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts2xREhTL0U

We're expecting Nuclear babies any day and some will be for sale. We should also have anery stripes and normal stripes het anery any day...in fact, I haven't been out today to check on them...could be today!

Wide Stripe Project

These guys and gals have a similiar look and we are breeding our male into multiple morphs to see what he produces. It does appear to be genetic as the adult male and female had a litter of 100% wide backs last year. You can see some of the females from that litter below.

Wide Stripe (WS) Project?

Here is our 2008 Male WS Breeder

Check out this video on utube to see who he is being paired with now....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqd-Hv6kRg

Mark@LHALegal.com

Tornado Destruction Images

April 27, 2011 a large EF5 tornado was on the ground for over 200 miles from Tuscaloosa to Northern Alabama. Unfortunatley, it left behind mass destruction and loss of lives, homes & businesses. Here are some images on Highway 78 between Pleasant Grove and Fultondale area.

Memphis Repticon ... we got more than we expected!

We had planned on a leisurely drive Friday morning to the Memphis Repticon show but nothing was leisurely Thursday or Friday in Alabama. Thank God we were south of the major tornadoes that tore through so many areas in the South Thursday. The drive to Memphis from Alabama is along interstate 78 which happened to be a major area hit by the tornadoes the day before. The traffic was understandably backed up and there was no power from Birmingham to Northern Birmingham, it was strange to drive for 50 miles and there be no power in either direction. The devastation was the worst we've ever witnessed, it looked like a bomb went off.

The show was wonderful and we enjoyed meeting a bunch of new people and seeing a few of our old ugly friends who surprisingly seem to get uglier between each meeting. Thanks again for everyone who came out and supported us. If you have any questions please direct them to Mark@LHALegal.com ...be sure to read the ENTIRE care sheet first, please!