Minimum Cooling

[sxereturn]

Fuscus - why not get the vet to show you how to probe? It's kinda cool being able to do that sort of stuff yourself. I'm still getting the hang of it, trying it on any roadkill we find.

[Fuscus]

Originally Posted by sxereturn

Fuscus - why not get the vet to show you how to probe? It's kinda cool being able to do that sort of stuff yourself. I'm still getting the hang of it, trying it on any roadkill we find.

Good Idea but I am way ahead of you, I fully intend to assist and observe. This is also a new vet, if any good I'll put them on the list but the signs are good, the receptionist carefully questioned me to ensure the snakes are big enough to probe.


And the roadkill idea is the work of a genius. I'll be doing that come september.

[africancichlidau]

the receptionist carefully questioned me to ensure the snakes are big enough to probe.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the risk of damage during probing Coastals greater as the snake gets older/larger?

[Fuscus]

Originally Posted by africancichlidau

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the risk of damage during probing Coastals greater as the snake gets older/larger?

Probing is an unknown to me, that is why I am going to a vet. I could go to a local shop and get them done for $10 a piece but ...

[NCHERPS]

You can probe coastals from hatchling to adult, no problem at all, but you need to know what your doing.

Pleased to hear more people are learning to probe themselves, helps when buying snakes to.
How many have bought snakes as hatchies, grown them up, tried breeding with what they thought was the opposite sex, only to find out when they do eventually get probed that they have two of the same sex??
Also, save yourself $10 a snake, it's all good!

Get shown alot though, and don't be afraid to ask people to assist when doing it.

Neil

[craig23]

I know alot of very sucsessful python breeders that havent even started cooling yet... Winter has just started, days are still getting shorter and colder, alot would say that now is the right time to start cooling... There are some people that are starting to heat there snakes up now, i dont understand why. If you wait till the last half of winter/ begining half of spring to warm your snakes you get the added benifites of the natural stimulants.... days getting longer, temps naturally getting warmer. Some wild snakes, even in cooler climates are just going into hibernation now, and wont start mating for another 3-4 months or so, some even later in cooler areas.... Winter has just started, there is a good 3 months of cold weather left, more than enough time to cool.

I also agree with obee, plenty of snakes in the tropics breed with very little natural cooling, its possible that slight drops in humidity, daylight hours and the slight reduction in temps during winter/ the dry, is enough. Its very possible that just the massive reduction in daylight hours from brisbane south would be enough to stimulate breeding without much cooling at all.

Also I have breed a female carpet that was 4.5ft and just under 3 years old. she laid 13 eggs, 2 were duds. I did have alot of problems with deformed hatchlings tho, unsure if it was related to the snakes age, or incubation etc...

goodluck
Craig

[craig23]

Also just on probing, NCHERPS could be right, I dont know. BUT, I have alot of books that say Carpet Pythons should not be probed over more than a few months old as they are suseptable to damage. I have also read this on alot of US sites on carpet pythons, and we all know they breed more than we do. If you have a known sex carpet of similar size just compare spur length. Males have longer spurs than females.

Im just letting you know what I have read, not saying I have any experience with probing carpets... but i have read this alot. As im sure most have us have.

Craig

[Fuscus]

One of the well known and respected breeders PMed me last night and offered to probe the animals and show me. I also got to look at his collection ( droooooooollll ) and then (partly) probed the coastal myself.
Anyhow it appears I have 2 female WPS as I thought and a male coastal as I hoped. The big WP is big enough to breed and is looking for boyfreind but the coastal is on the border but as every one says, worth a try.

But he was unsure of the WP type saying it looked like a QLD while I was under the inpression it is an NT. More research is needed.

[Magpie]

But he was unsure of the WP type saying it looked like a QLD while I was under the inpression it is an NT. More research is needed.

Despite what some people will tell you, it is really not possible to say wether they are qld or nt based on looks.

[Fuscus]

You may be right Maggie. If you look at the article in Oz Geo you will see photos of WPs whose colors range from yellow to black. And they are all from the same locality.

[herptrader]

There is a reasonable body of evidence to suggest that the size of the snake and not the age is the primary determinant of breeding maturity.

Rick Shine has a table in the back of his book "Australian Snakes" which records the adult sizes of families of Australian snake from which the minimum breeding size can be determined. I took the liberty of transcribing this table for pythons on to OzPythoner site at yahoogrops.

I am not sure how this link will work for people who have a Yahoo groups ID:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OzPyth...portRows&tbl=2

I you have problems let me know and I will convert it to plain text and post it here.

[Fuscus]

sorry david, I have problems, one of which is the link doesn't work for me

[herptrader]

This is a bit crude but you should be able to work it out.
The "Minimum" sizes are what you are after for breeding.
(It looked better as a jpeg but I did not work out how to attach it.)
______________________________________________
Species MinimumMaleSize MinimumFemaleSize MaleSize FemaleSize Average Clutch size Common Name
Aspidites melanocaphalus 1170 mm 1200 mm 1560 mm 1590 mm 8 Black Headed Python
Aspidites ramsayi 1110 mm 1185 mm 1480 mm 1580 mm 14 Woma
Chondropython viridis 750 mm 968 mm 1000 mm 1290 mm 12 Green Tree Python
Liasis childreni 518 mm 525 mm 690 mm 720 mm 7 Children's python
Liasis fucus 975 mm 1102 mm 1300 mm 1470 mm 10 Water Python
Liasis maculosus 557 mm 630 mm 770 mm 840 mm 13 Spotted Python
Liasis olivaceus 1320 mm 1425 mm 1760 mm 1900 mm 16 Olive Python
Liasis perthensis 337 mm 353 mm 450 mm 470 mm 5 Pygmy Python
Liasis stimsoni 660 mm 638 mm 880 mm 850 mm 6 Stimson's Python
Morelia amethystina 1440 mm 1748 mm 1920 mm 2330 mm 11 Scrub Python
Morelia spilota 975 mm 1133 mm 1300 mm 1510 mm 21 Diamond and Carpet Python

[Fuscus]

Female coastal has been purchased

[Fuscus]

Thats for that HT, all min sizes are smaller than I would have guessed.
Are the columns "Male Size" and "Female Size" the average size or recommended size?