Question for Keelback breeders only.

[James_Scott]

Hey Guys
I have two Keelbacks that are going on 3 yrs old. There is a clear size difference between them even though they are siblings. I have always assumed the larger dominant one was female but today I watched her follow the male around the enclosure and tail tickling the male. Without probing or popping I wont know for sure the sex and Im not about to stress them out with that procedure when everything is going so well.
So my question is has anybody seen their females ellicit sex feom a male or has it always been the male initiating it?
Cheers
James

 

[eipper]

usually females tail lift when receptive....I would be probing myself and making sure arthur and martha are what you think they are

 

[James_Scott]

Thanks Scott. Ive been reading research paper after research paper and found there was a study of a large number of keelback eggs that were left in sphagnum moss and left to hatch at room twmp which was between 24c-26c. Others have incubated them at 31c with success. My enclosure is a natural looking paludarium. The lower layers of substrate are moist with a dry upper layer. The water below the raised substrate is 26c and ambient room temp ranges from 24c-27c. Im hoping they can do a what comes naturally and make a nest site and with anyluck the humidy will be high enough to hatch without incubation.
So far all behaviour is natural from hunting in the water and even foraging under rocks in the water to mating on land.
These have made the rest of my collection seem so boring that I am clearing out the rest of my herps after this breeding season to purely concentrate on Keelbacks.

 

[TrueBlue]

Colubrids seem to hatch better at lower temps than pythons.

 

[James_Scott]

Yes. I was familiar with gts eggs being left at room temp to hatch but there isnt a lot of info on keelbacks from keepers. Most of the research is done with wild caught specimens.
I was discussing this with Ben Moore and he is under the impression that all keelbacks in captivity at the moment are from wild caught parents. Has anybody bred from captive bred specimens?