Merauke Breeding

[Scottmichael]

Hi guys

I am new to this and I was directed by Melanie over at melsexotics.com to ask the question.

Does anyone have any tips or has anyone been successful in breeding Merauke's ? If so could you help me out. I have heard they are very difficult to breed and require different things than other BTS . I have a pair and want to do it safe

Thanks

[Scincoides]

I moved this to the general discussion forum. Welcome, and good luck in your attempts for breeding. Im sure youll get lots of good advice. Susann should chime in at some point, shes one of only a few people in the world who have actually gotten their animals to produce. She wont hand over all of her secrets, but shes a wonderful lady, and can at least help you with the basics.

[Susann]

I got your PM and would like to ask some questions if you don't mind?

How long have you had BTS?
How long have you had this pair of Meraukes?
How sure are you that they are Meraukes, and how sure are you that they are a pair?
Have you done much research on breeding?

[Scottmichael]

Hi thanks for the reply here are the answers to the questions

How long have you had BTS?
I had some growing up and recnetly got back into BTS, I have had many other types of reptiles in the mean time

How long have you had this pair of Meraukes?
This pair is new to me, I have recently picked them up. They are both 2 years old. I do not have much more information other than they look and act like healthy BTS. According to the previous owner the female went into brumation last year but was interrupted due to the person moving

How sure are you that they are Meraukes, and how sure are you that they are a pair?
Melanie at Mels Exotics has confirmed that they are both Meraukes. I have not tried to breed them before and the information provided to me is that they are a pair

Have you done much research on breeding?
I have done all research on Breeding and I am very familiar with breeding Northern BTS. Melanie told me Meraukes are different and I should seek you out for advise on successful breeding tips

I hope this answers your questions
Thanks, Scott

[Richard.C]

I dont think breeding meraukes is totally different to breeding northerns its just most dont cycle s are very tolerant of alot of different keeping methods

Gigas seems to require more exact requirements

I always tell folk when studying up on a certain species to have a look at what python breeders do with pythons from same area as theres a ton of info out there on pythons

[Scottmichael]

I have bred ball pythons before. I am curious as to why Meraukes prove to be more difficult than other BTS

Is there a proven method that works better than following a general rule ?

If they dont cycle couldnt you breed them at any time of the year as long as you have a cool down period with the right conditions? Maybe I am way off here but with breeding ball pythons I could cool them down at anytime of the year as long as the conditions were right and produce offspring.

[Dakota]

Ball pythons don't occur in a region below the New Guinea highlands adjacent to Cape York peninsula, do they? Only kidding, just giving you a hard time.

To save Susann from writing a book, if you use the search tool on this forum, you will find multiple threads answering your questions.

Best of luck!

[Susann]

I am a little bit short on time, so I appreciate others chipping in to answer. Here's my short reply:
If you've researched breeding and mating BTS and are familiar with breeding Northerns, and you do not need to quarantine the two Meraukes from each other, then introduce them right now and see what happens

[Scottmichael]

Thanks everyone !

[Richard.C]

Scott,in theory,yes,if u have full control of your conditions including ambients,then u can cycle them to breed at any time of year,hence in northern hemisphere there breeding follows northern hemisphere conditions

Prob is not many people are licky enough to have complete control of there conditions so ambients they are exposed to where u live can come into play

By pythons from same area im talking things like new guinea carpets,ij carpets,green tree pythons ect

What u see the python guys do is have warmth day and night for active part of season,come cool down time alot wont touch day heat but they do lower the night temps,whats cool at night in tropical areas is still quite mild compared to temperate climates,in nature they breed in this cool down period of night drops,which also coincides with the dry season

One thing i see with the people having luck with meraukes consistently is the animals are responding to there local climate drops,but in colder areas they breed very early because the drops occur very soon into autumn,in warmer climates they tend to breed later,the thing being they are responding to the cooler ights in areas they are being kept

In australia heating this way with my northerns its similar,mine started mating in may instead of the usual mid july of usual but a couple still held out till july

Why?

Because conditions available or used by them dictates what happens,mine have hotspots all year running but long winters of cold ambients and those ambients are whats controlling them

[Scottmichael]

That makes sense, thank you Richard .

For a species like the Merauke, since they are from a more tropical climate what is a temperature they should not go below at night ? Coming from the north and having them in my basement I am worried when we start to get snow the basement might end up too cold without any heat source. I am not sure how cold my basement will get as I just moved in. Even with my pythons in the basement I keep a under pad heater on the tanks at all times

[Susann]

I don't ever let mine go below 65F, but I also have a ceramic heater on (on a dimmer) at all times at the warm end of each 4 foot tank, and it's extremely rare for my warm side to dip below 75F.