SNAKESUNLIMITED

Caging- Blackheads grow to large destructive creatures in the cage. Branches and other cage decorations need to be well secured. Substrate should account for their burrowing habits and not be abrasive if they choose to burrow. For adults I prefer 6ft Vision cages with 60w-75w heat lights in a 6" dome and a UV bulb. While many people do not think snakes need UV there have been multiple studies that show they certainly use it. For gravid females I add a second heat bulb in a 6" dome to aid in egg development. Babies are housed in shoe box racks and yearlings are moved up to sweater boxes before 4ft visions and finally 6ft vision cages.

 

Breeding- The actual breeding portion of blackhead reproduction is pretty simple, they are eager and willing to do that part for you for about half the year. The part that seems to make the difference in success is reducing temps. Like with everything on this page, this is just my method and what I find success with. I am a bit odd in that I don't do a formal brumation. I allow nighttime temperature drops into the 50's but during the day the heat lights come back on and I do actually feed though at reduced rates and sizes. The ambient temp in the room is in the mid to high 60's with the cages near the window getting some of the Chicago winter chill. My animals will spend time in the cold even while the heat is on. Another important factor is the size of the females. I don't attempt breeding until the females are 4-5 years old and they are at least 7ft. The other important factor is the female needs to have jumped from the long thin juvi body type to the heavier body type where they are about the size of a one litter soda bottle. The killer for breeding age females is obesity. Fat females do not do well and the eggs do not hatch well.

 

Incubation- Once you get eggs, you will have these giant eggs that are quite fragile. Your number one killer is water, then moisture, and finally humidity. To make it more fun, if they are too dry they will die too. I do not have a humidity gauge in my incubator or egg boxes so I can't give you a number but I can give you a look. You want dry eggs and a dry box that gets a little humidity build up near the bottom. I use medium snap top boxes from rubbermade with an inch and a half to two inches of perlite. I then place deli cups in the perlite as spacers and on top of those I put a light diffuser grating so that the perlite has about a half inch gap between the diffuser panel and the perlite. The eggs go on top of that and I can usually get about 6 eggs per box though some years only 4 will fit. The temp is set at 87.7 with a night drop down to 85. The night drop is probably not needed but I think they would go through that in the wild and it has worked for me for the past few years.

For the next 60 some odd days I go through the daily or every other day chore of checking the eggs. I open the boxes and look for excess humidity and check the eggs to see if they are deflating. If they deflate in the first 2-3 weeks I add extra water to the egg boxes, if the boxes sweat every day I add dry perlite. After day 45 or so I do not worry about deflation of the eggs as long as it is not severe. With the above described method I have hatched near 100% of the eggs.

 

Babies- Well babies can be a nightmare, I don't let them leave my hands until they have had 5-6 natural feedings. When they first hatch they have huge bellies full of yolk and I don't even try to feed them until the first month has passed. The first feeding and all consecutive attempts are basically the same. I offer a day old quail chick, a fuzzy mouse, a hopper mouse and a rat pink in various places around the cage. After the first two feedings fail (they usually do) I begin assist feeding one of the food items while leaving the rest in the cage. I take the chosen food item and place it in the mouth so that the item is all the way into the back of the throat. I then press the jaws together and pull pack to set the teeth into the item and then I put the snake back in the drawer and close it. All of this takes about 30 seconds. After 4 attempts I give up and leave all food items in until the following day. If the snake eats the assisted item it will sometimes eat one or more other items and that is the sign that you are on your way. At some point the baby will take all offered food items on it's own and you are off to the races because they usually never stop eating at that point. Unfortunately I have never caught them starting to eat so I do not know which item triggers their feeding so I still offer all items. I have noticed that day old quail are easier to assist feed and the babies seem more likely to take them than anything else. If you find some trick I would be happy to try it. Tease and live feeding as well as scenting with various prey items has not worked for me so far but I am always trying new things.