Pacific Boa Constrictor Snakes (Candoia bibroni bibroni)

With some fear and trepidation we introduced our two VERY small males to the VERY large female, and of course nature provided all our fears unnecessary and within 30 minutes they were all in a big tangle and mating was going on. Snakes have to be together for a long time: the females only ovulate after mating has started, and they still have to be fertilised after that, so we are leaving these guys together for the next 3 - 4 weeks. If this is successful she will be pregnant for 9 months, so we have a long time to wait, but I hope we are at least on the way to our first breeding programme. On first introduction the two small males stuck closely together. Candoia bibroni bibroni apparantly like to mate with more than one male if possible. These two are siblings from the same litter, so the genetics should be the same whichever one is sucessful. One of the males explores the huge female Tangled tails hopefully mean mission accomplished - or at least underway After mating she retired to

After nursing our small males from new-borns to over 1 metre long and 4 years old, we want to start a breeding programme. Females get much larger than males, so we knew our under 1 metre female wasn't ready yet... So Thomasina has come to stay! She belongs to a friend of ours who has been getting her into superb shape for the past 12 months, and now we think (hope) the time is right to introduce them. I'm a bit worried about the size disparity, but the experts tell us this is the way it works, so here we go.... Thomasina is twice as long and probably 4 times as heavy as Rifraf and Magenta, so either they are in for the time of their lives, or a completely traumatic experience. We'll keep recording! Here's the gorgeous Thomasina, almost 2 metres long: In her bath before joining our snake tanks: She's ready for her close-up Mr DeMille.... And our comparatively puny males, Magenta and Rifraf, hopefully up to the task....

Just to prove that good things happen to he who waits... This small male Fiji Boa escaped his tank over a year ago, and was thought lost. Then a month ago a small head was seen peering out of the rafters, and he was recaptured none the worse for wear. The advantages of keeping snakes in their natural environment! His young owner is very happy to have him back, and he has settled straight back into his enclosure, probably very happy not to have to keep an eye out for mongooses the whole time anymore!