Early introductions

[Helenthereef]

I'm dealing with Fiji Boa, Candoia species, so this may be completely irrelevant, but.....

I have 7 snakes all in one large, open air tank, in their native country, so at totally natural temps, humidity, pressures, day lengths etc. For 8 months the males and females have shared hides, slept on top of each other, and moved around each other, apparently completely oblivious of the fact that they are different sexes.

THEN... around mid July the night temp dropped to below 20oC. One female stoped eating and started ballooning up. By 10 August I had a mating orgy on my hands - every male in the tank was on her, but ignoring the other two females (who I have since removed).

So, by my observation, if kept together they certainly only mate "when the time is right". May be different for snakes kept apart.

[SublimeBoa]

Could be that since you are actually in their natural environment, that the breeding season you witness is spot on with what the books will say. A textbook breeding if you will.

Someone attempting the breeding of the same animals over here, just might yield different results. That would be real interesting to see, as it would prove or disprove a theory I've had for a long time about your particular climate playing a major role in breeding of many ssp of Boa. We just don't have the same climate, except for south Florida and South Texas, as their natural environment produces.

Make sense?