Black Headed Python-Breeding&Housing

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All the females are housed in 6ft divided enclosures. Hides are provided in their 'cool ends'.		A few females including Red, White Girl, Dajarra, Mottled, Lemon Pinstripe & Light Classic QLD.

Hold back Juveniles are housed in 'underbed storage' racks.		All arboreal species are housed in 4ft x 3ft bank enclosures.

A few more 6 footers.

MATING

There are a few different things to look for when you are observing mating activity.

General mating activity – Excitement of both sexes displayed through intensified tongue flicking. Rubbing, pinning and spurring by the male in an attempt to excite the female. Acceptance by the female at the males advances with tail flicking, opening her cloaca and at times defecating (this is sometimes done by both the male and female).

Alignment of tails – Both pythons laying in a state of calm with their tails aligned.

Attempted copulation – The male rubbing and spurring the female while tails are aligned. The male will continually spur and with small, sharp movements attempt to align himself under the female’s cloacal opening. This is an image posted online many times as an example of ‘copulation’. It is not actual mating as such, rather the male trying to position himself for insertion.

Assumed mating – Assumed matings are most commonly observed when the male’s cloaca is situated under and inline with the female’s cloaca. Tails are entwined in an embrace like state.

Copulation – A good indication of true copulation is entwined tails with the male positioned under the female’s cloaca . The embrace of tails seems almost tight with both the male and female’s tails tense in the embrace, the male being engaged under the female. At this point you can be rather confident that the male is mating with the female. At closer inspection the insertion of the male’s Hemipene may be observed.

White girl paired with her father.	Calico Pair with tails aligned 2010.	Another pair of Black Headed Pythons copulating.

A Red Pair, not as reduced on black as our best female but definitely a favourite of mine.	Green Pythons mating. Native male paired with a Stone line female. Hemipene insertion is clearly noticeable.	3.5yr old striped male paired with an 11kg Dajarra female. 1st June 2010.

Silver male woma paired with a yellow South Australian female.	Although not recommended, BHP's can be bred successfully at a small size. This Het Axanthic was bred weighing 1.5kg, a fertile clutch of 4 eggs at 90g av.	Pair of QLD mating.

LAYING

We choose to harvest Blackheaded python eggs singularly during the laying process. A lot of care is needed not to drop or damage the wet balloon looking eggs when taking them from the female. Females usually lay their eggs inside a loose coil. When taking the freshly layed egg simply touch the outer coils of the female’s body, she will instinctively push against the pressure leaving an opening for you to grab the egg. When you have your hand around the egg slowly scoop your finger under it, make sure you have a good grip and remove it placing it directly into the incubation medium of choice (vermiculite/pearlite). Most females go into a trance like state as they are laying so the disturbance by taking the eggs individually is minimal.

Lemon female barrel rolling in anticipation of egg deposition.	Gravid Calico.	A classic QLD inverted. Deep Tubs are used to hold decent amounts of Sphagnum Moss.

Calico female egg lay.	Gravid Dajarra, not far off laying.	Original Dajarra in the middle of laying a full clutch of 12 fertile eggs.

Eggs are taken singularly during egg lay.	South Australian Woma on her eggs.	Removing a South Australian female from her eggs.

EGG HATCHING

A few days prior to hatching all snakes produce an ‘egg tooth’. This is a small, knife like tooth situated at the front of the hatchling’s snout. At the time of hatching the baby will cut several slices in the jacket of the egg and at it’s leisure the hatchling will emerge and take it’s first breath. We call this process ‘pipping the egg’. On some occasions however, a baby snake may not produce an egg tooth, become trapped inside the egg and as the veins subside they eventually suffocate. To ensure this doesn’t happen we cut all eggs as soon as one snake from the clutch has pipped its egg.

When first performed egg cutting can be a nerve wracking experience. A lot of worry is had over “what happens if I cut a vein” or “will I cut the snake”. Firstly, veins are the life blood of all developing embryos but once the embryo has gone full term, it is now a baby snake (or soon to be hatchling) so the veins are no longer a factor. If a vein is nicked during the cutting process it will have no negative repercussions on the emerging snake what-so-ever, cutting the snake itself however will. To ensure the baby snake it not sliced during cutting we use a set of small, manicure scissors, gently squeeze the top of the egg between your thumb and finger making a sort of fold and gently cut or nick the egg. Once the first nick is made, the tip of the scissors are simply slid inside the cut keeping the pointy end flush with the inside of the shell and a V or flap cut is made. Some people like to cut the entire top of the egg off leaving the inside exposed, we prefer to cut a V allowing easy access for the snake to emerge while still keeping the feeling of security with a covered flap.

The eggs are cut once one of the hatchlings have pipped.	A small incision is made in the skin of the egg. A length ways cut is made ensuring the blade is kept level with the inside of the egg.	The hatchling is right way up, only a day or two from exiting the egg.

Freshly emerged Dajarra Hatchie.	Freshly hatched Dajarra showing typical Black & White.	Freshly emerged BHP hatchling drinking, only minutes out of the egg.

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