When do you stop cooling the diamonds

[junglemad]

I have a pair of diamonds that i am cooling.
They are now at room temperature..insulated house...aircon on 3 hrs a night or so.
I haven't fed them for 2 months and they look at me hungrily. The male has shed and looks excellent, the female hasn't shed yet and she looks hungry, or sad, or both.
Do i have to wait to see them mating before i turn their temps up?
Is it too early for them to start mating?
I really want to breed them but not at the expense of their health. The guy who had them before me had them at 30 degrees for 2 years. I have had them for 12 months and changed their diet to rats. They are about 6 feet long now. From advice on here, from a guru here in Sydney, and from my research on the net i decided to cool them but i am having second thoughts, particularly when people were describing pnuemonia etc.

Please help me Diamond Python geniuses out there.

Should i maybe turn the heat up and forget about it ?

 

[Ricko]

do you give them heat for a few hours during the day?

 

[junglemad]

Nope..i was thinking that would make them use energy and get hungry...do you?

 

[hugsta]

In order to breed diamonds you need to keep them cold for the winter. If indoors you need to make sure they are getting quite cool night time temps, like 12 or 13 deg c. You can offer them warmth during the day with a max of around 18 deg c. There are several ways to breed diamonds and everyone has a different idea. Give one way a try this season, if it doesn't work, try another way next yr. I have mine cooling for 3 months, June to August and I warm them up come start of September.

 

[celticskull]

gday jungle
in the main menu click the feature article,care sheets,morelia and there is a great article kindly copyied by slateman called Care, Breeding of Australia's Diamond Python
check it out it will help you figer out what your doing wrong
good luck

 

[NoOne]

I would have their daytime temp higher than 18c Daz, 18c doesn't allow them to bask very much. Most diamond breeders give around 26c for about 6hrs a day for diamonds. It depends on where you live as well.

 

[hugsta]

I would have their daytime temp higher than 18c Daz, 18c doesn't allow them to bask very much. Most diamond breeders give around 26c for about 6hrs a day for diamonds. It depends on where you live as well.

Yeh, depends on where you live, they were also in a controlled enviroment so if any probs arose I would see it straight away. There are so many ways to coll them eh Steve. They are a pain in the but to cool properly to have them breed succesfully. I have mine outside in an aviary now. So will see how they go out there this season.

 

[junglemad]

A common mistake is to hibernate them too warm, where their metabolism uses up reserves. Wild pythons might be able to deal with those variables, but in captivity it's best to avoid the situation. My diamonds typically come out of hibernation just like they went in: muscular and healthy. A meal or two and they're ready to breed.

there it is in the help sheet indicated...hmm...there are a lot of differing ideas around

 

[junglemad]

Yeha mine are together in one of those plastic moulded enclosures with a small water bowl. I didn't turn the temperature off until they had shat their last feed.
If i let the temperature get up to 26 won't that jeopardise the cooling i have already done?
I would really feel as though i were slowly starving them to death in that case

 

[serpenttongue]

When being kept indoors i drop the temps and pair them up in early June. I give them no heat overnight and during the day the temps will rise to no more than 24 degrees. Daylight hours are shortened. Light comes on at 7am and is turned off at 4pm. My diamonds start breeding in August and i start bringing them out of winter in mid September by raising the temps. Breeding will continue until around October.

 

[junglemad]

So you give them their first feed in mid september? I had my big female out today for some sunshine. She is feeling strong and healthy.

thanks

 

[serpenttongue]

No, i will offer food around late October, early November.

 

[hugsta]

So your diamonds mate during winter ST?? I don't normally put mine together till September and they normally start mating within the month.

 

[serpenttongue]

Yeah Hugsta, if they're together in August they'll start mating. I dont seperate the males from females. They're together all year round and mating is first observed in August.

 

[hugsta]

Interesting. As I said earlier mine are now outside in an aviary, will be interesting to see when they mate, if I am around to see it. Mine didn't start mating till late Spetember early october last year. I seperated them for cooling only and warmed them up together.

 

[serpenttongue]

Hugsta, i've noticed that males will breed early if they're cooled with a female that they have a strong liking for. If i put my males with females that they're not too keen on they tend to wait for better females to come along. If none do they finally give up hope(usually around late Sep/early Oct) and get to work on the females available. This may give a false impression that mating begins in September.

 

[hugsta]

Makes sense ST. Hopefully mine will go earlier this yr. I know they are compatible so it is just a matter of time. I also have a couple of males in the enclosure so there is plenty of competition as well.

 

[junglemad]

Mine are great mates and have been together for 6 months..apart from feeds when she tried to assassinate him over a rat.
They are usually in the same hide together though there is a choice and they spend their active time entwined.
I will give them each an hour of sun tomorrow.
Maybe next season i will try them in the aviary too depending on any success this year.

 

[saxon]

Hi,
Do any of you guys breed centralians, I was woundering if the process is similar.

Saxon