In responce to many emails on the procedures on breeding Candoia, I decided to put together a short guide on this subject. With not a lot of information on the internet you should have decent success following these guidlines.

First, make sure you have at least one male and one female of sexual maturity. Although sexual maturity can be reached at smaller sizes and ages, I would suggest waiting till both sexes are at leastthree to four feet for females and two to three feet for males. I would also suggest not to breed either sex till they at least three years old.

To have decent success you will want to start cooling your Candoia around the first week of December. The cooling down time period should be between six to eight weeks. Cooling down you Candoia consists of letting the nightime temperatures drop to around 68 degrees while maintaining the normal daytime temps of 78 to 82 degrees. By mid to late January resume the normal temperatures of 78 to 82 degrees. Start introducing your females to the males cage until copulations have been observed or trace evidence(sperm) of copulation can be seen on the substrate or surface of cage.

If no copulation takes place you may have to use the multiple male theory. Due to different localities/Islands these boas come from it is believed that you may find incompatable pairs. If so, either put a few males with the female and wait till one male breeds with her. Although the males shouldn't harm each other you can try one at a time also. Keeping good breeding records of who breeds with who is very importatant. Another reason for good breeding records is you will not want to breed your females every year. If copulation is observed  and your female shows signs of pregnancy be prepared for a gestation period of around eight months.

Neonate Care and Feeding

 If you had success in your breeding attempt you should end up with a group of babies like the picture to the right. Average numbers of newborns range from around twenty or thirty for each female. As you can see, these guys are TINY!. House them as you would any newborn snake. I use small tupperware containers with two small water dishes. I take small parts of a paper towel tube and flatten it out. They will use this for cover to hide. I keep my babies temperatures at 78/82 degrees as you would the adults. If you are lucky, your babies will accept the smallest newborn pinkies. For stubborn babies you may need to feed or at least scent the pinkies with a green tree frog or small lizard such as a house gecko or anole. It helps to have breeding colonies of the mentioned lizards/frogs if you plan to breed for lots of babies each year. Try feeding the babies every seven to fourteen days.From the babies I have had, I let them set thier own feed schedule. You will find some will eat every seven days while others will go up to fourteen days between feeding!. Remember with the babies being six to eight inches at birth, a tiny pinkie or lizard is a huge meal. There is lots of room for trying different feed methods and food sources with these guys. I had some eat small fish (guppies/rosies) for the first meal. It is best to try to get your stubborn feeders on pinkies as quick as you can for health related reasons.