small sized female? breeding question?

I thought I'd ask this now for planning later! My only female BP now is over 2 years old (anywhere between 2 years 2 months old~2 years 6 months old, I'm guessing... unfortunately don't have an exact hatch date on her). She's always had an awesome appetite and never missed a meal in her life, but her growth seems to have been really slow/stopped over the last half year, despite eating a lot? She only grows horizontally now LOL and so is pretty chunky. While I feed her still on the same schedule (1 small every 2 weeks) hoping that she will continue growing like an average female size, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

She is about 1100~1200g now. I know she is similar or very slightly smaller than my males.

I did originally get her in consideration for breeding, but I'm wondering how safe it is exactly. Assuming she maybe maxes out at around 1400g or so by 3 years old? Or is her weight vs age really smaller or am I mistaken?

The last breeding female I had was 2400g when I sold her at 3.5 years old, and the big difference here makes me worry LOL

Personally I would wait. Having her healthy is more important than having a clutch to early. Keep in mind I don't breed and have not experience doing so. Some BPs hit a wall on weight around 1000g. Give her time. She will get there.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I thought I'd ask this now for planning later! My only female BP now is over 2 years old (anywhere between 2 years 2 months old~2 years 6 months old, I'm guessing... unfortunately don't have an exact hatch date on her). She's always had an awesome appetite and never missed a meal in her life, but her growth seems to have been really slow/stopped over the last half year, despite eating a lot? She only grows horizontally now LOL and so is pretty chunky. While I feed her still on the same schedule (1 small every 2 weeks) hoping that she will continue growing like an average female size, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

She is about 1100~1200g now. I know she is similar or very slightly smaller than my males.

I did originally get her in consideration for breeding, but I'm wondering how safe it is exactly. Assuming she maybe maxes out at around 1400g or so by 3 years old? Or is her weight vs age really smaller or am I mistaken?

The last breeding female I had was 2400g when I sold her at 3.5 years old, and the big difference here makes me worry LOL

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I wouldn't be breeding that snake for several years, if ever. I don't understand the rush, either...the world isn't running out of BPs.

I'm not a BP breeder & never was, but bred various other kinds of snakes. Health of the snake comes first, undersized snakes can have full-sized issues.
(and for what it's worth, I don't look to breed snakes under 4 years of age, & not every snake is well-suited to breed)

Are you sure she’s not actually a male? Always possible a mistake was made when sexing.


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If it is a female, I wouldn’t worry too much about the weight but more so the overall condition. My two healthiest clutches came from the lightest two females that I bred. I had big girls that didn’t even go. These smaller females started locking at 1200 grams and gained through the breeding process. One gave me 7 healthy eggs and no slugs the other gave me 5 no slugs. All hatched perfect.

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Originally Posted by rufretic

If it is a female, I wouldn’t worry too much about the weight but more so the overall condition. My two healthiest clutches came from the lightest two females that I bred. I had big girls that didn’t even go. These smaller females started locking at 1200 grams and gained through the breeding process. One gave me 7 healthy eggs and no slugs the other gave me 5 no slugs. All hatched perfect.

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You got it. My experience is the same.

At that age I would still wait another season most females will be in breeding range 1500 grams and up at 3 years and no sooner

Now if the female was 4 or 5 than yes I would breed her at 1200 grams not before, it's not a race because they are 2 or 2 and a half does not mean they should be breeding especially if the weight or proportions are off.

It's not just age it's a combination of everything.

The bigger the female the bigger the clutch, and the better the female will bounce back.

Can you do it sure you can do anything is it the best for the animal? Or is it better to wait a little so she matures a little? That is up to you to answer that question.

I bred 1200 grams females in the past but they were 4 or 5 years old smaller females that even once matured stayed in a lower weight range topping at 2200 grams by the time they were 9 or 10 years old.

Sorry about the confusion, but I wasn't going to breed her now, but wondering about if she's still small at 3 years old. I was in no rush LOL, which is why i said planning for the future.

Thanks for the thoughts!

And yes I've probed her as female myself when she was young.

Interesting, I didn't realize they'll still grow any significantly until 9-10 years old. I see what you guys mean about body condition!

Should I cut back on the feeding? It's so weird to me that she isn't growing much and only getting fat on the same schedule as my males.

Has she gone on an extended fast yet? It may be that she is storing in preparation to breed or fast.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Has she gone on an extended fast yet? It may be that she is storing in preparation to breed or fast.

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No, she's never missed a meal in her entire life actually, she's just always been super foody. She would probably eat every 3 days if I let her LOL