How to Breed a Pet Python

Captive-bred pythons are increasingly popular pets. Capturing and transporting these tropical snakes is dangerous and wild-caught snakes are unpredictable and often dangerous. By breeding snakes in captivity, herpetology fans can protect themselves and the general public from this sometimes dangerous species.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Cool the python's living area to approximately 65 degrees for one or two months before attempting to breed them.
2. Raise the temperature slowly back up to normal and begin feeding the female every few days.
3. Put the female in the male's cage.
4. Check your female's willingness to breed by watching her behavior. If she lays flat and seems docile around the male, then she is ready.
5. Return the female to the male's cage every day for a couple of days in a row. Once she is producing eggs she will lose interest in the male.
6. Wait two to three months for the snake to lay eggs. She will coil around the eggs once she has laid them. The eggs will hatch in another two months.

Tips & Warnings

• The one to two months of cool temperatures tricks the snake's body into thinking it is winter. When the temperature rises again the female's body will react as if it were springtime and she will ovulate.
• Pythons mate through internal fertilization. The mating process may take a few hours.
• It is normal for a python to lay between 15 and 25 eggs.
• Adding moss to the females brooding area can help to maintain the area's humidity.
• Do not feed the pythons during the cooling period.