When To Retire Breeders?

@WingedWolf

Thank you for that explination, I wasn't aware of that fact of biology. That does clear up a lot.

My main worry, I believe, would be that an older female near the end of her lifespan wouldn't be as hardy and able to handle the stress of a clutch. I'd never forgive myself if I overbred a female to death.

@2kdime

I apologize for the reaction, just that your post came off as a bit harsh, at least that's how I read it. No offense was meant.

Generally with reptiles you can't breed them over and over since they don't cycle repeatedly when they would not be able to produce.

For instance, a human female cycles once a month, but needs 9 months to carry to term. Therefor a human cycles more often than she can produce.

A python generally cycles once a year, and only needs about a month to 'carry to term' depending. So they cycle less often than they can produce.

No matter how much try, beg or pray, you cannot breed a ball python every month. You might be able to cycle the female into breeding within something less than a year(breed late one season and early the next season and the "gap" would be less than a year)but you can't really "overbreed" them as long as they are in healthy condition.

As they age and get larger, they lay larger clutches. But as a larger animal, they are more suited to lay larger clutches. Therefore, it is not less healthy for them to produce as they get older, quite the converse. A healthy female can be better suited for breeding the older she gets, as opposed to a human who has a threshold that they pass and then become less suitable as they age.

As long as your snakes are in good healthy condition, there's no reason to retire them from breeding. If the snake does not regain weight from breeding last season, obviously, it shouldn't be bred, but this would be regardless of age.

Most reptiles, are like fish in that they have indefinite growth. They do go through a growth spurt but continue to grow their whole life. If terms, the older they live, the bigger they get. Ofcourse the amount of food available has its effects too. For this reason, reptiles can continue to breed in their older ages and produce more babies. They are getting bigger and stronger as they age unlike mammals. Wouldnt it be neat if we could somehow genetically modify that into our genetic system? Keep growing bigger and stronger as we age. Basketball would be even more awesome with 90 year old 9 feet tall guys playing lol