Reproduction

Once you have your first chondro, you want only one thing: A breeding group . At least, this is what I wanted! To just keep chondros, is out of the question in my opinion. To enjoy these beautiful pythons you want to at least try and breed them (in a proper and responsible way) so you can learn more about behavior and physiology. It will enrich the experience of the hobby. One of the main reasons I am writing this article is just to share my own experiences in combination with what I have learned from the breeders that have gone before me. It is no guarantee for success since God knows I have been through a lot to find out what works and what doesn't and still am learning a lot. There are many breeders on the Web with great articles about how you should have the best chances of success in breeding them. It is therefore I will not write an article about how you should breed your chondros, because those are readily available. I will just give you a view on how I go by the breeding process myself and what my observations and thoughts are at that moment and what new ideas we may come upon in the communication with my friend breeders. As I've found out, there are many more ways that work for many more individual breeders, and there's still a lot to discover. That's where my challenge is and what makes it such a great passion of mine: The Green Dream

You can read my 2002 breedingreport here... Pairings for 2003 will be reported here... Preperation for breeding As in most Boids, some sort of stimulation is thought necessary to induce fertility in chondros. Especially the females and to much lesser extent the males since healthy males produce sperm all year round. Temperature cycling is commonly used, but more and more breeders use it very moderately or even do without. I'll share my way in 2002 with you: First of all, I made sure the female had been properly fed throughout the preceding year and had a good, sufficient fat supply for she will need it for the development of the eggs, and for the period after ovaposition (egglaying) if maternal incubation is used. I feed my females a bit more heavily/frequently prior to the cycling. However, I like to use smaller food items and an occasional chick for variety. Once the female has good bodyweight (always depending on the size of the female's anatomy) I start the temperature cycling which is fairly easy since temperatures tend to drop anyway during fall which is the ideal time to start the cycle. What I basically do is set the timer to the light (spotlight of appropriate Wattage according to cage measurements/ventilation) at 8 hours instead of the normal 14 hours. The average ambient temperature during the day is 28 degrees Celsius with a hotspot. During this period I cut down on mistings and mist only every other day. Males quickly go off food during these changes but even if not going of food increase of spermproduction will exist IMO. I present the females smaller meals but more frequently, once a week a thawed small rat should be good. I do this also because this will stimulate the female to grow follicles (from my observation). A food item that is too large can cause problems due to the temperature cycling, but also seems to be less stimulating for the female's fertility. An abundance of food may trigger the development of the follicles in combination with temperature cycling and the shorter photoperiod. The male attempting cloacal alignment The two lovebirds locked up Inducing copulation After six-eight weeks of cycling I introduce the male into the female's cage in the afternoon hours and start misting (always with a fine spray and lukewarm water) the cage a couple of hours before the lights go out. Most of the time heavy copulating will occur in the following week, that is if they are a compatible pair. Make sure no hidebox is accessible for she will most of the time try to escape from the males courting actions. All part of courtship behavior. Sometimes the male and female will copulate for over 24 hours. If you can get several of these long copulations that is good. Most of the time breeding will slow down after a couple of weeks. I always make sure the cage is misted in the afternoon/evening hours which seems to stimulate them and also maybe even more important provides them with the necessary water to drink which I assume also increase fertility in the female. It is also frequently noticed by breeders that when a storm approaches and the barometric pressure drops the chances of mating increase. Pre-ovulational swelling visible due to large follicles Increasingly seeking out the baskingarea days before actually ovulating Ovulation and the gestation period This part of the breeding has been much of a mystery to me as to what was actually going on physiologically wise. That is, until my friend Rob Worrell explained much of this complicated and most intriguing part of the breeding process.

After three weeks I noticed the female started to show significant swelling and basking in a fairly regular pattern of intervals. The swelling increases as courting acts by the male disappear and and the females appetite vanishes. This can be attributed to developing follicles in the female. This will most likely only happen when a courting male is present. Some females can look very plump by the time the follicles are full sized and I have mistaken this for eggs sometimes. The basking site should be about 96°F so if needed there is a good provider of heat. Also the opposite part of the cage must be cooler to make sure she can also perch in cooler places. This allows the female to regulate her bodytemperature in an optimal manner. I use a large cage for the mating/gestation. I also provide them with plenty of clean water by misting twice a day and a large water bowl present in the cage.

As follicles ripen and the male has lost all interest the female may become opaque and this seems to prelude ovulation. Now, a good ovulation just basically can't be missed. The female will look like she ate a very large rat and will mostly perch in a somewhat uncomfortable position and seem a bit cramped. The swelling is believed to occur due to increased bloodsupply to the muscles in that area. For the better details on these topics I like to refer to my Links page and visit the websites of the more experience breeders. The ovulation will be visible for 24-48 hours and will disappear afterwards. Now we speak of a truly gravid female and expectations about chances of a good clutch may increase. Approximately 40-45 days after the ovulation she should be about ready to lay her eggs. My female Biak in the pictures below laid her eggs 45 days after my first observation of ovulational swelling. one week before laying her eggs The spine is more prominent now the fat reserves have been used to develop the eggs which are also causing the swelling Noticeable is the swelling on the right and the sharper back due to the depletion of fat The big beauty having a drink before the tough period ahead During the gestation period I tried to get my hands on some spaghnum moss to provide a good substrate which is a very dry one. The eggs of Chondros are very sensitive to contact with water and if the eggs come into direct contact with water they die. The whole idea is to get the inside of the hiding box dry and the humidity level of the air at 80-95%. This is only when maternal incubation is used! When artificial incubation is used the humiditylevel should be 95-100%, with the most important factor being the eggs can't get in contact with any water! The female needs a safe place to incubate her eggs. A wooden hidebox appears to be the best. This because it should be as natural for the female as possible. After all, she should feel save in such a vulnerable period. The nestbox must be offered after the pre-lay shed so the moss is still fresh and dry. I use two nestboxes: A self-made wooden nextbox and a gallon paintbucket. Both must be very clean and have an entrancehole of approximately 5-6 centimeters (2 inches) is diameter. Many breeders simply use plastic boxes and that works well also. Once she is in the nestbox after her prelay shed she will prepare for the oviposition (egglaying). If all went well and the female has had all the characteristic signs of a good gestation she will lay a clutch between 10 and 20 eggs on average with the maximum being in the 40's. Naturally there is always a chance there will be so called "slugs" in the clutch. Which are unshelled unfertilized ova. Showing the yolk in a slug Reconstructed nestsite with slugs So eggviability varies. This seems to depend on a combination of (many still unknown IMO) factors: 1. The efficient fatreserves in the female prior to breeding 2. A proper temperaturecycle prior to breeding 3. Quality of the overall husbandrysystem used year round 4. Hydration and allover condition of the female throughout the breedingperiod Once the eggs have arrived she will get a good tight beehive coil around them and will start incubating the clutch.Sometimes clutchsizes may be too large for the mother to get all eggs in her beehive coils. It is always recommended to get these eggs and put them in an incubator. These eggs CAN be infertile, but many cases also show these eggs are perfectly fine. Many breeders that have experience with artificial incubation prefer this because of the control they have over the clutch and more importantly, the female is saved from 7 weeks of extra fasting. With artificial incubation, you can remove infertile/rotting eggs during the incubationprocess and can save the other eggs. However, if the eggs are strong to come by, these eggs should be resistent to any rotting eggs in the clutch. Again, better safe than sorry. Maternal incubation can be used when not fully confident using a first time incubator setup. With maternal incubation the female basically just needs an temperature of 82-84 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity of 80-95% to incubate her clutch. If the eggs are viable and she has formed a good tight beehive coil she will definitely do the job! I have kept a close eye on the behavior of my incubating mother chondro to see what she liked best. If she would loosen her coils it is most likely too warm in her nestbox. If she was thermoregulating (generating of bodyheat due to muscular contractions) too much it was too cold. Basically you want the best of the clutch AND the mother to save her energy. But I'd rather have temperatures slightly lower than too high. The compensation of the lower temperatures is what she has tools like thermoregulation for. Besides,the developing embryos start generating heat as they develope and the coils of the mother are working slightly "insulating" as well. If the clutch gets too hot all she can do is loosen her coils. I have kept an eye on the temperatures in nature (on Biak in this case since the mother is a Biak locality) which would fluctuate between DayTimeHighs of 84-88F and NightTimeLows of 72-70F. As I wanted it to be as natural as possible without tiring her too much I provided her with a Nighttime temperaturedrop and the Daytime temperatures at 82F. Especially in the final two weeks of incubation the female would loosen her coils with these Daytime temperatures and I lowered them to as low as 80F and at Night 76-78F. Many fellow chondrofriends have been a big help in giving me their feedback whenever I had questions popping up. Analysing these observations with Greg Schroeder also convinced me to provide her with the temperature drop and I have to say I'm glad I did that! As soon as I had those temperatures she would make her perfect beehive coil again and the rest of the two weeks all was fine. Since I wondered why she did this exactly two weeks before hatchdate I asked some of the experience breeders for their thoughts. It turns out that the clutch with the further developed embryos inside will generate more heat since it is such a compact mass and raises the temperatures inside the clutch. Since all my hatchlings turned out to be strong I think it would be wise to slightly drop those temperatures at night and in the final week. I also provided some extra aircirculation with fresh air from an airpump outside the cage and an airtube inside the cage. Only if you have the idea ventilation might be a little too low which differs per cagesetup of course! An incubating chondro mother is an amazing sight and is a fine example of natures stunning beauty! After 48-51 days the eggs will start hatching and the mother will loosen her coils and you should see the first heads popping out the eggs! What a magical experience it is!! The mother chondro minutes after removing her from her clutch of hatching baby's. Not a happy mother but a very thirsty one she is! The first yellow and red heads start popping and the yellow one on the left had it's first "yawn" Hatching lasted for almost three days Once a good compatible pair is selected and prepared for breeding, getting them to mate should be no problem. But to determine if the female really is gravid and taking the right preparations for the incubation is the tricky business. Without proper observation/analyses/actionplanning and the correspondence with experienced breeders it would take a lot longer to get your first healthy clutch of chondros and they therefore deserve full credit for sharing the results of their work. I hope you will attempt to breed this magnificent species because it simply is the most fascinating experience!! With all the good info that is shared by the breeders that have made sacrifices to get these new facts it is made easier for today's breeders than 20 years ago but still a great challenge with highs and be prepared cash in some lows as well. Once you have succeeded to hatch a clutch of these beautiful babies the next and sometimes even bigger challenge of raising them will arise! And as I have/am experiencing, this getting them started feeding and keeping them healthy can require a lot of patience, ingenuity and long hours in the snake room! This is also one of the main reasons why the prices of chondros are still relatively high but when you experience what it takes to breed them and raise all the babies you will definetely see that it is definetely NO way of easy money and requires true passion and investing of time and money to keep doing this for many years which I will definetely plan to do! On to the next generation of chondros!

©2007 Marc van Eijnsbergen