Boas breed by themselves?

I have a pair of imperators cohabiting in one enclosure. They're both het for albino.

I am planning on cycling the female for breeding this autumn and am going to breed her to a full albino male (I'm planning on getting an albino female for the het male sometime in the future).

The female is currently 6ft long and the het male she's currently sharing with is 5ft+

I am told there's a chance that he could have mated with her and she could already be pregnant.

How likely is this to happen? Has it ever happened to anyone on the forum where boas produced young without actively being cycled? How can I tell if she's pregnant? Should I seperate her from the male just in case she is (could he be a threat to any young born if he's in the enclosure at the time of the birth?)
What should I feed my female? She's currently eating one large rat per week

I know of someone who bought a male boa to breed to his female. He had them in seperate enclosures as he wasn't ready to breed them yet and it was only when he found 19 neonates in the 'male's' enclosure that he realised he'd been sold a pregnant she

Why do you believe she could be gravid? is it simply because you housed the two together? Is she showing any signs of being gravid, e.g. increasing in girth, ovulation, sitting in the heat coil position, average body temp of 86oF.

Yes, it is possible for the male to bred the female and for her to become gravid, even if not cycled. It is also true that if she is not cycled she either the male, or female, or both, may not have produced viable sperm or eggs, and therefore the female could either produce slugs (which may end your chances of breeding her next season) or a small number of babies. Alternatively, she could produce a large heathy litter. There are so many variables.

In my opinion, unless you want to take the risk of any of the above, I would separate the female. Some females take longer to rebound from begin gravid than others. I have a female poss het blood boa that gave birth in 2007 and is still not ready to breed again.

Warren

Well, Ben in the Reptile Haven said its possible she could be gravid already, but the only reason I think this is possible is because they are housed together.

I'm not sure about an increase in girth because I've been out of the country since mid-January. I don't really know what the signs of ovulation are in a boa. As to her body temperature how do you take a snake's body temperature anyway?
What does the heat coil position look like?

At the moment she's curled up at the warm end with the male

Unfortuntately, I don't really have an enclosure for the male, OK I do have an enclosure, but its not really spacious enough for a 5ft boa, the only spare viv I have is the largest size exo-terra

When a snake is ovulating she will swell noticeably around the last third of her body, before the tail - it only lasts a short time though, and even if you watch for it you can still miss it. A gravid boa will however slowly increase in girth around the same area of her body as the young develop within her.....you should be familiar with the general body shape of your boa, and when the rear of her body starts to take on a more rounded appearance you know there's something going on there. I have a gravid female Sonoran boa at the moment and have pics up in another thread here of her before and after being mated, if that helps you any.

If you want to take a snakes temperature accurately, get a small temp gun - you can pick these up on ebay and they are worth their weight in gold. No more guessing at temps - just point and you can get body temp, basking temp, heat mat temp, ambient / air temps etc.

The heat coil position is like a stacked coil, Warren describes it as a beehive shape which is a good description.....if you see this behaviour then its another good sign. All snakes change their body position depending on whether they want to lose or gain heat......the beehive position helps the female boa to retain heat which helps the eggs develop. She will also hug the heat mat and spend a lot of time basking there (if, of course, its set at the right temps for her) - again this is when a temp gun is invaluable. You mention shes's curled up at the arm end of her viv, that sounds good although it could also be that the rest of the viv is too cold for her so shes there simply to stay warm.

I would also recommend separating the male - if the female is gravid and drops babies for you, its going to be messy enough taking her out to tend to the babies without having a male to deal with too. Two snakes in one viv is never a good idea anyway as it can lead to all sorts of problems......such as unplanned breeding.

I would also stop feeding her an adult rat a week if she is showing signs of being gravid - the mass of the food pressing against the developing eggs wouldn't do any good and so most female boas who continue to feed during pregnancy are fed much smaller meals at this time.

Do you have / can you get any photos of her to show the shape of the rear of her body?