Youngest a Female can breed??

If I ever breed im going to make sure shes 2000 grams+ i dont know but 1500 seems to small to deliver a good sized clutch.

I think you may be sorely disappointed to find that some females never GET to be 2000 grams, lol.

The size variation among ball pythons is pretty extreme. I have some girls that are over 5 years old, and they get up to about 1600 to 1800 grams, and that's it--that's their optimal weight, if they got heavier, they'd just be fat.

Some females only really GET about 1500 grams. The small ones are short, too of course. You can't honestly expect a 4 foot female to weigh as much as a 5 footer. If it did, it would be fat, and fat snakes don't breed well--it's unhealthy for them to be overweight.

Do small females produce good-sized clutches? Well, remember that the average clutch size for ball pythons is 6 eggs. A 1500 gram female can produce 6 eggs. She won't produce 13, like my giant 3500 gram female, but she will NEVER be 3500 grams--she's genetically destined to be a much, much smaller snake.

If you have a female that's only 1500 grams by age 3, and you don't like it, you CAN wait an extra year...but you might discover that she only makes it to 1550 or 1600 as a result. :) It all depends on the individual animal.

I bred my '07 female pastel this past year. I started pairing her in Dec when she was 1200g, when she dropped in July this year she was ~1600g. She gave me my biggest clutch this year (7 eggs). My other two clutches were 6 and 5 eggs. The 6 egg clutch was from a 2400g proven breeder and the 5 egg was from a '06 first year girl who was around 1800g.

I would personally try to aim for at least 1200g, but some girls won't get much bigger than that. Its up to each keeper to decide when its best. But I always say, if in doubt, wait another year to be safe.

At 1200 grams she was probably mature and big enough. You knew how she was and went on.

But that's also an exception and people should not try to do this with all the small female. They should understand the risk of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Watever

with my small experience :

i am pretty sure

THERE IS NO WAY A 1000 GRAMS FEMALE BREED !

Might be possible but I hope no one try it ! There is more chance of unsucess and of death than anything else.

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You would be pretty wrong.

Yes, it's possible.

No, death is not likely.

Hope this helps!

Jamie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Watever

with my small experience :

i am pretty sure

THERE IS NO WAY A 1000 GRAMS FEMALE BREED !

Might be possible but I hope no one try it ! There is more chance of unsucess and of death than anything else.

If the female is too young or too small don't breed her. 1500g is the minimum but 1800-2000g is the best.

Not because they reach 1500g that they are ready to breed. Just like it's not because a male reach 600g that he will reproduce.

Male can breed younger (less than a year happens), but that's usually not the case, and if he can get tired quickly and get in problems.

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I think you meant to word this as such.


Now just because they reach 1500g does not meanthat they are ready to breed. Just like a male reaching 600g does not mean that he will reproduce.

Just confused me the way you had typed it out. But I agree 1000g is way to small I don't care if the animal if 5 years old and just does not grow i would still not breed an animal that small. That's just me though. I stick to 1500-1800g depending on the length of the animal. I have a few females that are very lon but don't seem to put on any girth. Both are around 1900-2000g range but I still don't want to breed them.