Age a female ball reaches sexual maturity

i have a female ball python and i am wondering how big they have to be before breeding. i dont know how old she is, but she is about 42 inches long and her girth is half the size of my male. i am thinking this is too small, so i keep her away from my male altogether. when he is near her he defecates and just basically goes into this frenzy.
i read that females are can be aggressive eaters during mating season and that they are more active during both day and night. she has been doing these things....and she has only been eating live mice for about a month. she used to eat frozen mice but seems more eager to kill her prey now than before. anyway..thoughts? id like to know what you know that i dont know. :)

I usually wait till the female is either 1300grams or 2 years old which ever comes first. Usually By 2 years old their sexually mature enough to breed.

Its a combo of weight and age. 1300 grams is ok to breed but its still a bit small. The female might not recover enough from the weight loss to breed by the next year. Depends on how well of a feeder she is. It might be better to get them up to 1600 grams.

I also want to add that if she is close to breeding size a regular mouse is way too small of a meal for her. Hatchling ball pythons eat adult mice. Feed her rats about the size of the thickest part of her body. If she is on mice it would take about 6 to fill her up. If you want to put any weight on her you need the larger food items.
Try and post some pics of her next to a pop can se we can get a size reference. And feed her at least once a week. My females eat every 4 days.

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Originally Posted by Darkice

Hatchling ball pythons eat adult mice.

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They do?
While I agree a mouse is too small, I've yet to see a hatchling eat an adult mouse ;)

To the OP: Any photo's of said snakes? :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darkice

Its a combo of weight and age. 1300 grams is ok to breed but its still a bit small. The female might not recover enough from the weight loss to breed by the next year. Depends on how well of a feeder she is. It might be better to get them up to 1600 grams.

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This is Opinion you know right.All the top breeders use females at 1300 grams and get 4-6 eggs from them. I have as well and i never breed females back to back anyways i give them a year off.

I usually go by age and weight. If the female is at least 2 years old (going into her 3rd winter) and weighs at least 1500g, I'll breed her. Anything less and she will wait until she's big/old enough. This is not a rule but my own personal preference. I have an 06 girl right now that I'm not breeding because she's only around 1000g. I also have an 07 girl that is only 600g. She's the same age as a female I intend to breed this season, but she's half the size, so age isn't always the only factor.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

They do?
While I agree a mouse is too small, I've yet to see a hatchling eat an adult mouse ;)

To the OP: Any photo's of said snakes? :)

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Lol! mine eat ex breeder mice..one of them eats two..saying that not quite hatchlings..100g :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darkice

I also want to add that if she is close to breeding size a regular mouse is way too small of a meal for her. Hatchling ball pythons eat adult mice. Feed her rats about the size of the thickest part of her body. If she is on mice it would take about 6 to fill her up. If you want to put any weight on her you need the larger food items.
Try and post some pics of her next to a pop can se we can get a size reference. And feed her at least once a week. My females eat every 4 days.

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Allthough I agree rats are better as they grow, all mine do very well on ex breeder mice..think a lot depends on the individual snake..tbh never fed a regular mouse to even the babies

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

They do?
While I agree a mouse is too small, I've yet to see a hatchling eat an adult mouse ;)

To the OP: Any photo's of said snakes? :)

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When mine were hatchlings, they had no problem eating adult mice.:)