12 weeks old and......

o.k. i was just on blog-talk radio and they were talking about breeding male ball pythons at 12 weeks of age. can you really breed at 12 weeks old?

Ive heard that it is unsafe to breed males below the age of 7 months and a weight of 700 grams.

18 months for females with a weight of 1300-1500 grams.

12 weeks jesus. that snake wouldnt even be sexually mature enough to get it on.

Soon as a male produce sperm plugs you can breed it.

Now with that said many young male will not have much interest and most importantly breeding a very young male at a low weight could be disastrous if not monitored properly as breeding really takes it's toll on males.

Not something I recommend to someone with not prior breeding experience.

Keep in mind males can be bred to death.

I have try very young males around 450 grams in the past and none as ever shown any interest, I get much better results with males in the 650/850 grams range.

It is common to breed males around 400 grams, just be cautious about over breeding them. I seen a story from Markus Jayne about his 395 gram male successfully breeding at 5 months of age. The snakes themselves know when they are sexually mature enough to breed. I wouldn't personally breed any male weighing less than 400. But I usually wait until they are 500.

Wow. I stand corrected. I'd never heard you could breed males as low as 400 grams before. I guess most of my research revolved around the age and weights for females after all XD I dont even have my male yet.

I dont go by age with males. I wait for them to have plugs. Then i start pairing them with females. Once small young males refuse 2 meals for me, their done breeding for season till they eat again well.

I had a male Pin father a clutch by time he was 350g.

just so everyone know what i am talking about, here is were i got this from http://www.blogtalkradio.com/reptile...13/quick-blast
i don't buy it really, i like to breed my males at 800-1000 grams myself.

I have bred a male as small as 450. He fathered a clutch that season but it took a lot for me to get the weight on him the next season because he didn't want to eat.

I have a male right now that is about 250g and he has been producing sperm plugs since he was about 200-220g. I have a big 2100g girl waiting for him, but I'm going to wait until he is at least 400g, maybe even 500g.

Here's a 400-500 gram male breeding a 2800-3000 gram girl. 12 weeks just seems extremely young to me...Not saying it's wrong, but can they possibly be mature by then? Interesting.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...s/DSCN2542.jpg

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Originally Posted by DemmBalls

Here's a 400-500 gram male breeding a 2800-3000 gram girl. 12 weeks just seems extremely young to me...Not saying it's wrong, but can they possibly be mature by then? Interesting.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...s/DSCN2542.jpg

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That is a great pic. Its totally goijg to be like my only pairing this year:) classic pic. But it woulb be interesting for someone professional testing how early they mature without just throwing them at a female,and keeping the snake safe.