Your ideal weight?

[Jor23dan]

I am sure something like this is somewhere on this site but i figured i would make one myself. Just want to see when people first start to breed their females. Ive seen so many different starting points for people just seeing what people start at the most. Also write in your weight for males because i know those will be different. I saw someone that starts breeding males at 350 so curios on that too

[snakesRkewl]

Ideal weight and the weight one starts them at are probably way different.
Ideally I like my snakes to be well over 1500 grams before breeding, but I have bred 1200 gram females that made it to 1500 grams before developing follicles.
Most females will eat like pigs after being introduced to a male, but there's always some that don't eat well and are destined to throw slugs if they drop anything at all.

We have a clutch that just pipped from a 7 month old 440 gram fire male, that's as small as I have bred a male successfully.

[Jor23dan]

yea i just wanted to see when most people actually start for a females first season. I too dont like breeding untill they are closer to 1500. I beleive my smallest male was prob around 480.

[Simple Man]

Totally variable. Just depends on the snakes. I got 4 eggs from my 1200g Fire Mojave this year. She weighed right under 900g after laying. She was healthy and ate well so I paired her and had a clutch. She's already nearing her prelay weight and will surpass it easily before this upcoming season. I also had a Butter het Hypo sire a Butter Hypo. He was born in August and started pairing in January/Feb at 400g or so. He continued to eat and pair. I ended up with a nice split clutch. I produced POGs and my holdback Butter Hypo female in the same clutch. Pretty cool.

Regards,

B

[rabernet]

Since I'm not in any rush to breed my girls, I prefer them to be well over 1500 grams before I breed them.

[Mike41793]

My girls imma breed this year are at 1350, 1300, and 1450 right now empty. I plan to start pairing oct first so whatever weight they are by then will
Be when i start. They should all gain another 100-150 grams by then bc theyre all pigs haha. Weight matters nothing if they arent sexually mature tho. If they arent ready they wont go.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I prefer them to be 1500 grams, OR 3 years old, but I am willing to accept that this may be more rumor than fact when it comes to proper breeding weight. I am going to try test breeding a few smaller females, and keep track of the outcome--how well they do, what happens to their growth rate afterward, and how large their subsequent clutches are.

[h00blah]

I prefer them to be 1500 grams, OR 3 years old, but I am willing to accept that this may be more rumor than fact when it comes to proper breeding weight. I am going to try test breeding a few smaller females, and keep track of the outcome--how well they do, what happens to their growth rate afterward, and how large their subsequent clutches are.

Please keep us posted on these findings ! The only information I've really seen on the small/young females laying is from accidental clutches from a pair that was housed together.. It would be nice to see what could happen under "controlled" conditions.... Maybe not controlled.. more like monitored lol.


As for a response to the OP, the rule of thumb I see everywhere is 1500 grams and 2 seasons under their belt. That's basically what I'll be going for this year, my first breeding season. If there's no harm in breeding younger, then why not try?? As Mike stated, they'll either go or they won't .

[Kinra]

I also like my girls to be over 1500, but one of my 2010 girls started giving me wicked signals that she wanted to breed. She was 1200g at her first lock in January but I only paired her once then around April she looked like she was going to ovulate so I put two other males to her and at the end of June she laid 5 perfect eggs. She's eating like crazy again and should be ready to breed again in late winter.

As for males I started breeding my enchi at 450 and he ate all season and bred 6 females. Out of the six, three never laid, I lost the first clutch, he sired a clutch for my friend and now I'm waiting to see if he sired this last clutch. The little monster is almost 1000g now.

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[Mike41793]

I forgot to mention males.
Um my fire boy is 450 now and my cinny is 630 grams. So by oct first theyll both be well over 500 grams. But same rule applies, if theyre not ready to go yet then they wont lock up haha.

I think ive heard of a male as small as 260 grams breeding. Not sure id be comfortable doing that but to each their own.