Will breeding early stunt growth in a BP?

[cchardwick]

So I'm thinking I may be able to breed some of my snakes this year, I have a couple females that are hovering around 1500 grams. My question is that if I breed them this year will that stunt their growth? Is it better to feed them for another year or two and put on some real weight, maybe get them up to 3000 grams before breeding to increase production over their life time? I know most females will go off of food during breeding and that it's pretty hard on them, I'm thinking it may be best to wait and get them up to a higher weight? Maybe I'll get larger clutches of eggs when I do decide to breed, and maybe I'll get more eggs overall during their lifespan? I see a lot of fairly old snakes still at 1,500 grams, and others as much as 5,000 grams, maybe one is bred early and results in a lighter snake? Most people say that 1,500 is the minimum weight, but I'm wondering if I should wait...

[John1982]

Breeding earlier won't stunt their growth. It'll just take them longer to reach their true adult size as they'll be throwing resources into growing eggs instead.

[redshepherd]

From what I've been told, age and overall body look is more important than weight. If your females are already 2.5~3 years old, it'll most likely be fine. Breeding younger than that, too obese, or pumping weight into a too-young female can all result in poorer reproductivity aka more slugs. So the whole "pumping food into the female to get her to breeding weight FAST" seems counterproductive.

Also, the healthy "adult weight" of ball pythons seems to be mostly genetic.

[PitOnTheProwl]

How old are they? What is their body condition?