Finally ready for breeding!

You deffinately do not want to breed her at one year. Too young even if she is the appropriate size. And does sound overweight. An overweight snake will throw you lots of slugs, from what I hear.

AMA... the largest BP doesnt need anything more than a small rat... its no surprise that your snakes are bouncing back faster its bc your prey size is much bigger than needed and in the long run will put your BP overweight (if its not already)

My rule for breeding is that if you have any doubt, then just wait. Why risk it? So maybe your project takes a year longer - it'll be worth it to have a strong healthy female that will produce for years afterwards as opposed to breeding, too young. Getting poor clutch size and jeopardizing her health.

So yeah, wait another year.

i never powerfeed any of my animals. she is not overweight and she is very healthy. i dont know how many snakes you guys own but once you have a few females that you have been growing up you'll see that they grow at different rates even on the same feeding schedule.

for example i bought two females from the same clutch and within a year one was 1200g and the other was only 600g.
i'll post pics sooner or later so you guys can judge for yourself.

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Originally Posted by westcoastjungle

1500 grams is a minimum for me. But even at that weight if they are too young they aren't gonna take. she may go late winter(possible but unlikely) but next year she should be rockin.

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ya i was thinking that at this young she wouldnt even produce eggs and even if she did it may be only one. better to wait until next year when shes around 2000g!(hopefully;) )

Big Balls - what sized prey are you feeding? 1 rat per week? ... I wish my girls would put on weight like yours... I got 4 females that are 06's and my largest is only 700g's and none of them have never missed a meal.

my big girls never miss their meals: one small rat per week.

Theres the difference... For the majority of the time i was feeding weanlings(30-45gs) and then my feeder store only had small rats so I was feeding them those for awhile (month or two) but once they were gone I went back to weanlings... My plan was to feed them weanlings till they were 1000g's and then move up to small rats... I got about 50 more frozen weanlings and I think after that I'm going to make the jump to small rats for good. Anyone have a clue how long frozen rats are good for? I have 3 babies who are feeding on rat pups right now and obviously down the road theyll need to be bumped up... I was thinking bout usuing up 25 of the weanlings on the older ones and making the switch sooner and saving the other 25 for my 07's but obv dont want to feed them bad rats. Any advice?

Frozen rats should be good for approx. 6 months or so, as long as they're sealed properly. Possibly longer if you've got them vacuum sealed..

As far as feeder size, there's a really good thread on that subject that I just happened to start. There's a pretty good breakdown of meal size based on your BP's weight in there. Here's the thread: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=50548

well i dont go by weight of the rat i just eyeball the rat's girth and make sure that it is equal to or a little less than my bp's thickest part. i never "lump" the animals i just feed them properly and they grow well.