Do you breed your females every year?

Just wondering what different breeders are doing......breeding their females every year??? Every other year??? Two years on and One year off??? In VPI's book, they suggest that giving females a break can actually increase the size of the clutch that they lay. So I'm just wondering what everyone here does.

I'll start. I've been doing two years on and one year off.

Let me know what your opinions are.

Dan

I plan to do the same, but if I have a female that I have a bunch planned for, I may do 3 years in a row.

I think it depends on the individual snake. You should be able to tell if a particular female has "bounced back" to optimal weight before the next breeding season.

thats true, good point

Id say its up to the snake too. If there back up to the size they were before you bred. Then id say go for it.

Ditto. Some will take their sweet time gaining weight back and may not gain it all back, in which case it would be best to give them the year off to fully recover. Conversely, some will gain it back quickly and then some. With those I say go for it.

I see how my females have recouped their weight. I want to see them heavier then they were the year before. For example I have a female that bred for the first time this winter when she was 1500 grams and laid 5 eggs which all hatched healthy babies(good sign).Today she weighed in at 1690 grams empty and won't be breeding for a few more months when I expect her to be closer to 2000 grams. In my opinion she will be ready to breed again because she has regained and surpassed last years weight. If she struggled to reach last years weight again I would give her the year off. This is one of the reasons I use an incubator, separate my females from eggs immediately and bath them so they will begin eating as soon as possible(usually within days). So it really depends how well the female bounces back and how healthy she appears.

For me, it has been one year on, one year off.


It seems to work well that way, giving a break from the extreme stress to the body of egg bearing.