I am a new BP breeder, I have a lot of questions & really would love to talk!

Hello, my name is Ruby. I LOVE snakes, they have been my passion since I was 3 years old and met a reptile educator. Right now I own 2 ball pythons, a young normal female named Fiona (she is 271 grams, obviously this thread isn't about her!) and a Mojave/Pastel/Spider male named Frederick who will be 3 in December. Frederick is currently 563 grams because for most of the time I've had him, I was feeding him every 2 weeks, but he is noticeably beefing up now! I have been feeding him every week for the past 2 or 3 months I believe, when I started getting more serious about breeding. (btw Fiona eats every week, and always has. Never misses meals!)

Anyway, given Frederick's age, is he sexually mature? I am going to get a proven breeder female in a month or 2 who will probably be 4 years old. Frederick is a proven male, I tested this myself, but I just checked for sperm plugs and I can't tell if it was pee or sperm. I don't really like popping my pythons, I did it to verify my snake's gender but right now Frederick is red in his vent area from me popping him 2 days in a row. :( So I don't want to check again... in about a week I'll bring him to somebody who breeds Ball Pythons and see what he thinks. But given Frederick's age (almost 3) is it pretty much a definite that he's sexually mature?

Also, I know that male BPs get more excited around other males, but sadly I'm not able to test this. Any opinions or advice from you all would mean a lot, I really want to learn and do this right! This is a huge passion of mine, and not only that, I am getting my friends who were once afraid of snakes to actually want to adopt my future babies. :) Please comment, the more information I have the better!

:love: :snake2: :love:

P.S. I really am a NEWBIE, taking this very slow, I just got my scale today to weigh my snakes. I feel no rush here, it's all about the snakes!

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Originally Posted by snakelover91

Anyway, given Frederick's age, is he sexually mature?.

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In a word, yes. I have seen males as young as 6 months breed, weight is the big factor.

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Originally Posted by snakelover91

Frederick is a proven male, I tested this myself, but I just checked for sperm plugs and I can't tell if it was pee or sperm.

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You have bred him before? Being proven and being a male are two different things.

Also I want to say that when I first popped Frederick, his hemipenes were really small... I haven't popped him since (that was like 8 months ago), but these past 2 times I tried to pop him, I couldn't get the hemipenes out because I was afraid I was hurting him. I know that I should leave this to a pro, the only reason I did it is because I have always been successful before (I even sexed Fiona correctly, which a vet later verified)... does the size of the hemipenes matter? xD Funny but serious question, and I know I deserve to be lectured for popping my own snakes i just never had problems before

Hi, welcome to the forum!! I've never bred before, but I have done toooons of research on the topic. I would definitely say your Frederick is mature, but he seems on the thin side. Can you post a pic? Balls can and have been bred at that weight, but breeding takes a toll on their bodies, so I personally would wait til he beefs up a bit. To put it in perspective, my year old male is over 1000 grams, and I feed conservatively. What are you feeding him?

Generally it seems that lean males breed better (the fat ones get lazy lol). What female were you looking to pair him with? I bet he'll throw some awesome babies for ya :)

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

In a word, yes. I have seen males as young as 6 months breed, weight is the big factor.

You have bred him before? Being proven and being a male are two different things.

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Thank you! Well Frederick is a proven male, I saw his hemipenes the day I got him from a breeder. Is that what you mean by being proven?
The female I am going to buy is proven in that she's had at least one clutch before

Proven in breeding is that he successfully bred a female. Now yes your female is proven, because she had a clutch

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Here, all of these pictures are from today (just now actually), I tried to get one of him outstretched to show his body shape. He might be a little on the thin side (?)
He is getting close to shed time so he's a little darker than usual :)

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/547/ptcy.jpg

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/51/8i2l.jpg

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/837/ntlr.jpg

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Hi, welcome to the forum!! I've never bred before, but I have done toooons of research on the topic. I would definitely say your Frederick is mature, but he seems on the thin side. Can you post a pic? Balls can and have been bred at that weight, but breeding takes a toll on their bodies, so I personally would wait til he beefs up a bit. To put it in perspective, my year old male is over 1000 grams, and I feed conservatively. What are you feeding him?

Generally it seems that lean males breed better (the fat ones get lazy lol). What female were you looking to pair him with? I bet he'll throw some awesome babies for ya :)

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Thank you for the warm welcome! :) I posted pictures of him, let me know what you think. I really appreciate it!
I feel him a "small rat" every Monday (frozen/thawed). I can even post a picture of him eating tomorrow, lol... they are adult rats.

He's definitely a looker! His body condition looks pretty well. I know some boys are just on the tiny side, and everyone grows at their own rate. Have you had him since he was a hatchling?

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

Generally it seems that lean males breed better (the fat ones get lazy lol). What female were you looking to pair him with? I bet he'll throw some awesome babies for ya :)

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For now, since I am on a budget I was going to get a normal female... is that silly? I can get 7 different morphs from that pairing if I remember correctly... what would you do? :) I am willing to invest more, I just found a really great breeder near me. But I am totally open to suggestions.