Q & A on slugs.

So i was talking with a friend of mine on the topic of female ball pythons throwing clutches of slugs. Maybe some of the more experienced breeders can chime in here.
My question is this. If a (first time) female throws a clutch of infertile eggs or combination infertile and slug eggs, does that pretty much mean that she will always throw bad clutches? This being that she IS of proper size and age when she dropped her first clutch. OR is there a chance her next clutch could be better once she is back up to size?
john

I had one throw 4 good eggs and 2 slugs the first time I bred her. The next year she threw 7 perfect eggs.

i've heard that if the female doesn't have enough fat deposits then not all the eggs will have a chance to properly develop. was she lean or young the first time and more plump the second time?

Generally slugs are due to the male not being fertile/not having enough sperm to fertilize the eggs in the female. The second one would be if he had been bred to numerous females and just didnt have enough rest between breedings. I have had one female first season ever for her she threw 5 slugs and nothing else and the very next year gave me 8 perfect eggs from a pastel breeding, she was normal, and all eggs hatched out as pastels. But the rule, and i use that term loosely, is to not breed a decent sized male, about 750 grams and up, to more than 5 females. I have had smaller males breed up to 7 females and do just fine but some times they just dont have the goods to get the job done ya know. Sorry for how this is all jumbled up but I have been up for over 24 hrs and im half asleep lol.

My pastel female completely slugged out on my last year (her first year). This year she gave me five eggs and one slug. Definitely moving in the right direction :gj:

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Originally Posted by tattlife2001

Generally slugs are due to the male not being fertile/not having enough sperm to fertilize the eggs in the female. The second one would be if he had been bred to numerous females and just didnt have enough rest between breedings. I have had one female first season ever for her she threw 5 slugs and nothing else and the very next year gave me 8 perfect eggs from a pastel breeding, she was normal, and all eggs hatched out as pastels. But the rule, and i use that term loosely, is to not breed a decent sized male, about 750 grams and up, to more than 5 females. I have had smaller males breed up to 7 females and do just fine but some times they just dont have the goods to get the job done ya know. Sorry for how this is all jumbled up but I have been up for over 24 hrs and im half asleep lol.

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The males actually have nothing to do with the female throwing slugs. Even if the male was not fertile it would not affect how the female forms the eggs. Infertile but healthy looking eggs are due to them not being fertilized. Slugs are due to the females follicles not developing properly.

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Originally Posted by J.Vandegrift

The males actually have nothing to do with the female throwing slugs. Even if the male was not fertile it would not affect how the female forms the eggs. Infertile but healthy looking eggs are due to them not being fertilized. Slugs are due to the females follicles not developing properly.

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Interesting! I hadn't thought about that before, but it makes perfect sense.

It would be interesting to use ultrasound to track the progress of follicles before and after ovulation, to see if there was some sort of reliable predictor of which ones are going to be slugs (size, etc.).