Do red tails double clutch???

[missionman]

I have 1 female who gave me 26 babies in february,two weeks after she gave birth i put her back in the enclosure with the rest of the breeding group,for some reason she looks like she is definetely gravid again with a large abdominal lump and has now quit feeding.I have never had a red tail go twice in one year.She has very very good weight so shes ok that way,what other concerns should i have???thanks

[sclark]

Reo red tails double clutch???

Hello Missionman,

Welcome to the forums..

Congrats on your 26 babies.. Hope they are all doing great.. Now an answer with a comment. Yeas RTB can double clutch. But I would think alot about letting it happen again. The mom is very tore up from the last clutch and having her get gravid twice in a year could do some damage to her, and shorten her life span. Nothing you can do about it now, but I would avoid it in the future..

Good luck
Hope this helped..
Steve

[Gun Lover]

Reo red tails double clutch???

wow congrants on the 26er's..i wonder if she held on to or stored a few (lack of a better word) tadpoles and now is preg w/ a 2nd litter? might be the case.or did you put her back in w/ the male ? if your able to post pics of ya babies we sure would like to see me

[sclark]

Reo red tails double clutch???

I have heard of some other types of snakes retaining the males seed, but to be honest, never heard of a boa doing that. I could be wrong, just never seen it happen with boas..

Steve

[ClayEnglish]

Reo red tails double clutch???

I have not heard of this happening, but I asked Jeff Ronne to stop by and maybe share his vast experience with this situation.

Jeff does believe that boas have 2 ovulations, but I am not sure he has ever said anything about double clutching..

[Gun Lover]

Reo red tails double clutch???

in the book The Guide to Owning a Red-Tailed Boa
by Glen Drewnowski in the breeding section.it talks about the female boa can retain ( thanks for the better word steve b27.gif ;D) the males seed.altho it doesnt say how offten that this happens.it says its possabile for her to do this. and have another clutch w/ out breeding w/ a male. if i can find that dang book and if some 1 else has it then its in there lol.but dont know how correct it is..

[The_Boaphile]

Reo red tails double clutch???

I am not aware of any live bearers that ever “Double Clutch”. To double clutch would mean to have two litters in a single breeding season. It is entirely likely that your Boa could be gravid again but this would not in the strict definition of the term be double clutching in my opinion. The first litter of Boas I ever produced was born Feb. 17, 1986. This same female had her next litter born December 9th. This all occurred in the same calendar year and were less than ten months apart but this was not a case of “double clutching”. Just an instance of one Boa producing two litters in quick succession. If your Boa does the same, this is what I would assume happened. Egg layers can double clutch because they only hold the eggs for a couple of months and then are free to regain weight and develop the next clutch. This is not the case with a live bearer like Boa Constrictors that have a four month gestation period along with some time that is required to develop the egg follicles.

[sclark]

Reo red tails double clutch???

OK based on what Jeff said we are just looking at double clutching differently.. Either way you look at it, I don't suggest you do that to your boa. Each birth wears the body down alot, one right after the other, I never thought was a good idea..

Steve