Breeding Amazons

  I've successfully bred over 15 species of snakes over the years, none of which gave me anything close to the enjoyment Amazon breeding gives me. The mid-Winter breedings (when the overall snake hobby is in a lull) and the late-Summer/Fall babies (long after the mid-Summer baby boom all over the internet and reptile shows) are just the tip of the iceberg; the real thrill is parturition day when you get a litter of babies with an unpredictable array of colors/patterns...it's like Christmas morning!

  The most important pre-breeding consideration: make sure the snakes you are trying to breed are in perfect health and up to optimum breeding size. Males can breed at about 2 years of age if they're up to 3.5 feet or more. Females can breed at about the same size/age as the males but breed more successfully and with much better results (see note) when bred at ages of 3+ years and at lengths of at least 4 feet. It helps to put a little extra body weight on the females in preparation for breeding season as they'll go off-feed for 2-4 months during gestation. 

* in my experience, small/young females usually have very small litters and/or a high percentage of slugs & stillborns.

  *random notes, not yet sorted and edited*  

Mid-Summer is the best place to start your breeding season cycling schedule.  Through the Summer and into the Fall, keep them warm day and night.  I aim for about 80 degrees night time, and mid/upper 80's daytime.  I should add that I prefer to keep them all in individual caging throughout the year, this makes for a much higher male-female interest level when you introduce them during the breeding season. 

 I heat the whole room.  It cycles from mid/upper 70's at night to just over 80 daytime with afternoon peaks hitting 85+.  During the winter months the night time temps are about 70-75 and the daytime temps usually don't go much past 80.

I sometimes have middle of the night lows hitting the upper 60's in my snake room in Jan/Feb.  I've noticed in my collection that the day-night temp. drop is what stimulates ATBs into breeding mode more than any other aspect of the seasonal cycling.  You can even keep their day time temps the same all year long; as long as the night time temp drop is accentuated during the winter's shorter day lengths, they will go into breeding mode.   The lighting in my snake room comes exclusively from windows, so their photoperiod cycles naturally with the changing of the seasons.

Introductions and breeding stimuli  I like to start pairing them up about 3 or 4 weeks after the cooling cycle starts.  A fresh shed from the female can stimulate breeding, many times though, it is not needed.  If one male shows no interest after a week, try another male. If neither one shows interest, you can put both with the female, but don't leave the room. Leave them together for a while and let them battle, then take one away and the "winning" male will sometimes immediately pursue the female. If the 2 males don't start fighting when you put them together with a female in the same cage, this means they are not in the breeding mode yet. Separate them all and try again 2 or 3 weeks later

 

 

 

Copulation Photos

 

Gestation (pregnancy)

This photo series, of one particular yellow female, shows how dark females get as they progress through gestation, this is nature's way of helping them incubate the developing babies (the darker skin absorbs more heat than light colored skin does)...you can also see in these photos just how FAT they get as delivery time gets near!

 

Parturition (giving birth)

The unpredictable genetics of Amazon Tree Boas makes parturition day feel like Christmas morning. The birth of each new baby is like unwrapping a present to see what kind of surprise awaits you!

 

Hybridizing Amazons & Emeralds

 

I only tried this during one breeding season and with no results.  I have no plans to try this again in the future, but it would be an exciting project.  There have been other hybrid litters produced at other breeders' facilities, the babies are variable and very cool looking.  Check out the Urban Jungles website for photos of some outrageous looking Hybrids!