Altering breeding time periods.

[kawasakirider]

Hey everyone, this may be a stupid question, so forgive me if it is. What I've been wondering for a while now, is why can't snakes be bred regardless of the time of year it is, if the temperature and lighting is controlled in a way that makes the snake think it's the breeding season when it's not?

I realise snakes only breed once a year, but why does it specifically have to be around this time of year if they're climates and habitats are completely controlled by us? How can they tell what time of year it is? Can they be cooled at the wrong time and tricked into breeding? The reason I ask is, we could potentially have hatchlings for sale all year round if various breeders' snakes were on different cycles, and there would be potential for breeders to breed different snakes all year round.

Is it because most snakes hatch during the normal period, that they naturally start their cycles during the natural breeding season and it's hard to break that cycle?

Again, sorry if it's a stupid question, I just think it's fascinating that snakes know when it's breeding time when they're in captivity.

 

[John_lisa]

hi*
i do not think this is a stupid question at all and i would love to know my self the answer

sorry bet u thought u had an answer then but i am very intrested in the answer now lol id slightly though of this myself too

 

[lexy1]

Its just easier to hit the correct temps to initiate breeding when you follow the season outside. As its kind of hard to hit low night time temps of 17 when outside the air temp is hitting 25 in the middle of summer or even hotter, but yes if you could manipulate your temps correctly they will breed at any time of the year......

 

[Scleropages]

Most animals and people go by internal body clocks.. so I'm not sure how you could change that easily , this year most of my herps have bred latter than last... so it would be more thsn just temp related I would think.

Also some snakes( BTS e.g) can have a few cluches a year.

 

[wokka]

One way to alter breeding times is to put the animal on a plane and move it to the northern hemisphere where the seasons are the opposite. I used to farm deer which have an antler cycle driven by a photoperiod response. We imported deer from NewZealand and part of the quarantine protocol is that the deer had to be housed in the quarantine facitlity for 90 days. Our quarantine was adapted from chicken sheds and had artificial lighting. By changing the daylenghth artificially, we grew antler out of season.After that I exported live deer to Korea, in the northern hemisphere. Those deer also grew Antler in the opposite seson to Australia.
Obviously the Australian pythons in north America breed at the opposite times of the year in Australia. Is it a photoperiod response or a result of temeperature change?

 

[lexy1]

Very interesting wokka yes i believe it is both temp and and photoperiod and yeah this year has been a very late season.... maybe cooler temps this year... One of my womas is ovulating as we speak when she started breeding in early may, now i believe that is superlate!!!! but i do believe if you can properly manipulate both they will breed at whatever time you want....Just my thoughts...

 

[DazTopEndPythons]

I agree - it's also to do with the snakes (or lizards) internal body clocks as well.


Try and stop an adult beardy from hibernating, even with tank lights etc run 24hrs a day it's hard....also a very expensive exercise. Wife tried this with a couple of lizards once to see what would happen, they just buried into the sand or hid in logs etc and went to sleep anyway.

 

[wokka]

I agree - it's also to do with the snakes (or lizards) internal body clocks as well.


Try and stop an adult beardy from hibernating, even with tank lights etc run 24hrs a day it's hard....also a very expensive exercise. Wife tried this with a couple of lizards once to see what would happen, they just buried into the sand or hid in logs etc and went to sleep anyway.

So the triggers may not be the envirionmental happenings at the time but rather what happened say 3 months ago?

 

[Ewan]

Photoperiod and temps are easy to imitate. But what about triggers like barometric pressure? That would be next to impossible to replicate.

Ewan.