breeding weight

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Originally Posted by JASBALLS

I never said it was safe! If you dont know what you are doing, Dont even try. It could cost you in the end!

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I'd definately be careful. I'd only breed him to one female, and give him plenty of time off. At at least 500g as of now, I wouldn't be too worried. It's not like he's only 200g or something :D

You do have to be careful and observant. I did once almost lose my oldest male pastel when he was 1 1/2 years old. He was somewhere around 450-500 grams, but when I put him in with a female, not only did he not breed but he completely shut down and quit eating. He may also have had a bug because he started losing weight pretty fast and I thought he was a gonner. He was down to 250 grams when I resorted to using the pinky pump on him. I also added some flagyl to his pinky mush so that may have helped bring him around. He came around pretty well after that and helped me produce 17 pastels the following year. He stayed small though, he's about 5-6 years old now and only 700+ grams. I don't know if his ordeal stunted his growth or not, but he breeds like a champ now.

Mark

i spoke to a couple breeders about egg binding and the general response was that small females have the same risk as large females so its not small size that will cause egg binding although it may be a factor in some cases. i was also told that if a female is too small or too young then she just wont produce eggs or if she does then they'll be small eggs in small clutches. what do you guys think?

this is my first year breeding and all my females are at least 1100g+. my smallest breeding female is now 1200g and just over a year old. she eats like crazy and is not even close to skinny. i was going to wait until next year but got a few opinions and decided to try her out. she locks up like crazy but ill have to wait to she if shes mature enough to produce eggs. im hoping for super pastels...:snake:!

"the jasball clutch"! I like it...................I also have a few females that are older but on the smaller end as far as weight is concerned. I could never understand how people could state what the recommended age/weight is to breed females when the results have been across the board. Healthy clutches from 800g, Slugging out at 2500g, and everything in between. When the age/weight discussions come up, I tend resort to thinking of what goes on in the wild. I highly doubt a 400g male who comes across an 1100g female, they both just stop and say "wait a minute, we shouldn't be doing this........we maybe able to produce a clutch, but there maybe some detrimental affects in our later years"
Anyways, thanks Mark and Jas for sharing your past results!

additionally, I would like to add that I am neither condoning nor condemning the use of small females in all breeding instances................everyones particular situation varies.

just thought I'd throw that disclaimer out there :)

I don't know how much relevance this had, but I like to think about it once in a while. Our WC female was imported gravid and laid eggs. I have no idea how many, or if any of them hatched. The guy we bought her from never mentioned.

She was off feed for a while, 3 mo. I think, and lost a total of maybe 100 grams. She has just hit the 1500 mark. She is a healthy, firm size and eats like a champ now, but how much weight could she have lost when she was gravid.

I mean, she is only 1500 grams now. What was she before? I believe she is the oldest snake we have. I like to think of her as being around 5 years, maybe a little older.

Does this show that an older snake will better breed when lighter in weight than a younger female that weighs a lot? (either from power feeding or just growing quickly)

im breeding a female 100% albino this year and when i started breeding she was 1110 grams... she is 1340 grams right now and i feel 6 follicles...

WOW I learn something new on this forum everyday. Not that I'm going to throw my males in this year but I have a lot of females that will be borderline 1500 grams next year(Theyre all a little over 1000 this year and they're late 05's) sooo I'm excited to give them a try:banana:...Thanks guys!

I believe it's an age and weight thing. I'll wait for their third winter and then see what the weights are. Having a ball for that long will also allow for a familiarity of the snake and so if the weight is borderline, knowing the snake might help with the determination of whether to breed at a lower weight or wait for a while.

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Originally Posted by EMH

I have been looking around to see what I could find for female breeding sizes and found there is a very wide range from 1100-1500 (18 m- 3 years) so I thought I would see what most here think is a good weight/age to start at.

I'm in no rush to breed so I won't breed any of mine till 1800 g +

Thanks
Eric

PS: If there is already a post on here going over this I'm sorry I didn't find it

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Depends on the females..:D