Ball Python Breeding and Morphs

This video shows Ball Python morphs that can be obtained by selective breeding. Below is a basic Ball Python breeding sheet, from the people over at morphcapital.com

Ball Python - Basic Breeding Sheet

This article includes just basic principles of ball python breeding, these methods are not the only way to successfully breed ball pythons but they are what work for us.

Breeding Size
Generally, we like our male ball pythons to be at least 600 grams and our females to be at least 1400 grams before attempting to breed them. Female ball pythons reach sexual maturity between 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 years old; males can start producing sperm within the first year. I will say however it is not wise breed a female that is skinny or not in good health. The process of breeding to egg laying is toll taking physically and can cause serious harm or death to an unhealthy or underweight female.

Cycling
Early to mid October we stop feeding our breeder males and females, after about two weeks without food we start to drop the night time temps to an ambient temperature in the mid 70s, with a hot spot in the mid to upper 80s and adjust our lighting to a 14 hour night time cycle.

Introduction
After two weeks into the temperature/light cycle change, we begin to introduce our breeder males to the female enclosure, this varies from breeder to breeder but it works for us. We will remove the male after three days for a three day rest period regardless if copulation was observed.

Ovulation
We continue to pair our breeders up until we notice the female ovulate. In most cases the female would have gone into a pre-ovulation shed. Ovulation usually looks like a swollen snake that has just had a huge meal.

Pre-Lay Shed
After ovulation the female will go into a pre-lay shed.

Gravid Behavior
Gravid females will sometimes lay inverted and they can sometimes be seen wrapping around their water dish.

Egg Laying
Approximately 27-35 days after the pre-lay shed, the female will lay her eggs. Our females have always laid their eggs in the early morning hours. Egg laying can take a few hours to complete; we try to keep all disturbances to a minimum during egg laying. Once the eggs are laid, we then remove the female, then remove the eggs. We place the eggs into a plastic container to artificially incubate. You can use a flashlight to "candle" an egg to look for veins inside the egg. An egg without veins is infertile and will probably turn yellow and rot. Once the eggs are in the incubator, we thoroughly wash the female and her tub removing the egg scent and place the female back into the rack. We try and give the female two days of recovery time before offering food.

Incubation
We incubate our eggs between 87-89 degrees at about 80%-90% humidity. We prefer the no substrate method to incubate our eggs. During the last couple weeks of incubation the eggs will dimple and cave in.