Age Limits

[EKS56]

I know this is silly, but they really do enjoy each others company.
But I don't want to kill my female breeding for snakes I don't need.

That's like this litter. I am more concerned with moving them in a responsible manner than making money off of them. I just thought it would be cool to raise a litter.

[EKS56]

I know this is silly, but they really do enjoy each others company.
But I don't want to kill my female breeding for snakes I don't need.

That's like this litter. I am more concerned with moving them in a responsible manner than making money off of them. I just thought it would be cool to raise a litter.

[jwolfe152]

yea i know what yea mean mine are almost always together. but as you know the ultimate decision is up to you. here is an idea, you could make 2 screened cages and sit them side by side it wouldnt be perfect but they could be close without an hanky panky going on

[chris-uk]

I know this is silly, but they really do enjoy each others company.
But I don't want to kill my female breeding for snakes I don't need.

That's like this litter. I am more concerned with moving them in a responsible manner than making money off of them. I just thought it would be cool to raise a litter.

I think the most pertinent part of your situation is finding good homes for litters. I was not the same position last year (regarding two snakes that seemed to do better when they were together, I ended up separating them once I had another male and female suitable sized to keep them company. I have to say, my Vlad isn't out as often as he was when he had Lacci with him but he's happy enough.

In the past I've seen mention of female snakes hitting a menopause, but I can't remember whether that was backed up with any evidence.

[chris-uk]

on Steve's site does it discuss anything about the courting/mating rituals? the reason im asking is that Ekoh has a good portion of his tail missing and was wondering if it could deter a female or him from mating for any reasons like the tail holding i have heard about. also could i get a link

I don't think a bit of missing tail will affect him mating, not unless he's missing enough that he can't "hold gails" with the female. If he's got enough to throw a twist around the girl he should be ok.

This is the page I usually refer to on Steven Bol's website :
Scott
Other pages are more appropriate for non-Mexican species. I don't think he discusses the actual act of courting or mating, there's certainly some threads on here (I know there was some discussion after I posted a few photos of my Cuitzeo's hemipenes...).

[d_virginiana]

well there is a chance that Steve may have the right idea about just letting things happen "naturally" you still may be able to keep them together because its really up to the female whether or not to mate correct? if so the female may just refuse to mate when she becomes a certain age, or mate and just keep the sperm indefinitely or even just expel it(i dont know if she can actually do that)...or on the other side of the coin she may just keep going till her last litter and she dies from the experience.

Unless something was wrong enough with the female that she physically couldn't support a litter (as in becoming gravid then miscarrying), I think she would probably continue to have litters. Since their purpose in the wild is to produce as many offspring as possible before dying and they don't really have self preservation instincts in that area, I think it's more likely that one would continue trying to mate until it ended up being fatal.
Not to say there's no 'snake menopause' after which she physically couldn't become gravid anymore, but I would worry about it being dangerous before it reached that point.

[EKS56]

This will probably be her last. A couple of reasons. It may be hazardous to her health and I don't want 20 snakes I can't move.