This season I have begun to put my male Tommy Boy (HW95.01vi) in with my female Hannah (EB94.72vi) in hopes of some breeding activity. Well I didn't have to wait very long! Tommy was breeding Hannah within a few hours of introduction. The photo above was taken at night with a flash. Apologies for the poor quality. This female has been one of my absolute favorites and yet, I have never gotten any good eggs from her. My hope is that the male I was using with her for the last 3 years was not producing enough sperm and Hannah was just waiting for the right male to come along!

UPDATE Nov '01: This pair has been quite busy and I am hopeful there will be eggs in their future. The female is bulking up and she is occasionally basking under the heat lamp during the day. She also spends quite a bit of time on the floor, but that doesn't stop this male... he is right down there after her and breeding regardless of her unladylike pose on the floor. I am very hopeful about this pair of snakes. Their offspring would be outstanding!

UPDATE Dec '01: The female was observed basking under the 25W red bulb on 12/12. She has spent most of her time on the floor with the male coming down regularly to breed her. Her belly is swollen and she has turned a lovely shade of aqua-blue on her sides. I believe this indicates that follicle growth is occurring. This is a positive sign!

UPDATE Jan '02: The female has become very pale blue and developed an "opaque but not shedding" look which can preclude an ovulation event. I don't believe that she has ovulated and I am going to put the male back in with her soon to see if she is receptive. She has refused food and shows no interest during feeding days. Hannah was unresponsive to Tommy Boy's re-introduction last week. Instead she has been basking, had a full shed, and is now sitting in the nest box. Time will tell if that was her pre-lay shed or if she is just brooding. Since she spends so much time on the floor, I might have missed an ovulation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed just to be on the safe side!

UPDATE Feb '02: The female was sitting on eggs when I went to check on her 2/4. Unfortunately, there were only 4 unfertilized ova and 23 slugs in her coils. This is the third time this female has laid a mix of slugs and unfertilized eggs. The good thing is she got everything out (it seems) and she is still of great body weight. In fact, I think she is too fat and this extra fat may be contributing to her inability to lay fertile eggs. Perhaps there is a pressure sensitive mechanism in the ova before they are fertilized while they are growing and filling with fluids. Maybe the ova are pressed on all sides by fat, that gives the signal to be ovulated even though they aren't big enough yet. This is theorized by the possibility that normal healthy ova get so big at one point, they must be pressed up against the side of the females insides and this might be a stimulus that the ova are ready to be fertilized and ovulated. My other theory is that the fat itself is creating or giving off hormones that some how impact the fertility of the eggs or their ability to grow to an adequate size. I plan to put this female on a maintenance diet and try to breed her again next year.

THE INFO ABOVE WAS WRITTEN DURING THIS BREEDING SEASON