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Boids that breed seasonally get their queues to breed from light and temperature fluctuations in the wild. Most seasonal breeders breed in the winter with the eggs hatching in spring and summer. Light cycling Provided you are not trying to breed your seasonal breeding boids outside of the SA seasons our natural day/night light cycles are sufficient. If your snake room has a natural light source and no other interfering lights little more needs to be done. Where no natural light is available the longer nights of winter need to be created artificially. This is best done automatically by using an on off timer set to the appropriate cycle. Infrared lights used for heating do not interfere, only natural or white lights. Temperature cycling Some boids don't require temperature cycling however most of the boas and pythons commonly bred in South Africa benefit from temperature cycling along with light cycling. Temperature cycling appears to improve fertility and so should be practiced where practical. Temperatures may differ for different species so these are just rough guidelines to illustrate the point. For example: Burmese and ball pythons may be kept at a range one or two degrees either side of 30 degrees centigrade in summer. As winter approaches the day time high temperature may increase to 31 or 32 degrees but the night time low temperature is gradually allowed to drop lower and lower until it reaches a maximum low of around 20 or 21 degrees centigrade in mid winter. Care should be taken that along with the low night time temperatures the appropriate day time highs are maintained. If this is not done your breeders are far more susceptible to illness and should they fall ill temperature cycling should be ceased immediately along with all breeding attempts. Mating can be attempted from the middle of the winter cycle and thereafter night time temperatures should gradually increase as they would naturally in spring. |
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