What is the youngest you'd breed a female ball?

2 years, 1200g for us.

I also would give a girl who's new to the collection a year to settle in before breeding her.

This is kind of a hard one to answer. It kind of depends on the female. You can have a female that is over 2 or 3 years old, and over the 1500g mark. She still may not be ready to breed. Its not just about an age or a weight. If I had a 3 year old female that was six foot long and only 1500g. She wouldn't be ready. A six foot female at only 1500g would be to skinny, I would think. For me its not really an age thing. I go by weight and how the female looks. If they are 1500g to 2000g I will try to breed them,if they have good size to them. If they are 2000g and look skinny, then they don't get bred. Even if they are old enough, and weigh enough.

You cant always go by the, 18 months old,1500g rule. Or even the two or three year old rule. I have an 06 female and I just paired her up for the first time less than a week ago. She ate like normal, went off food like a normal ball python. Just a slow grower. She was old enough, weighed enough, but was to skinny.

Well thats what I do, and my thoughts on the subject.

I feed my females more than I feed my males. Too me, I cannot have a chubby female Ball, because you never know if they are feeding like crazy for a few months and bulking up because they know a fast is coming on.

I have had a skinny 1500 gram female that I did not breed. I have had 1200 gram females that are solid, that would probably be close to the 1500 gram mark by the time they were ready to lay, since they were still on food, that I have bred. I have not gotten eggs from a female smaller than 1400 grams, 95% of my females are at least 1500 grams by the time I breed them and usually between 2 and 3 years old.

I suppose you could breed a 1000 gram female if she was solid, with great body mass, but I am of the opinion that 7 eggs next year are better than probably getting 3 eggs this year. The only time I would say 3 eggs this year are great, is if I was trying to prove out a new morph.

I use 2-3 years old and 1500 grams with good body weight and mass as my rule of thumb.

Dave

Well Starting at the beginning of last month I started pairing my 15 month old and 1450 gram female spider with my cinnamon het ghost male and have had a couple of locks since then. My theory on it is if she is old/big enough she will go, If not then she wont take. But I'll tell you what since I started pairing she has been on a roll with eating. Before pairing her she would only eat 1 asf rat or 1 mouse a week since may but now she is taking small rats with gusto. So even if she doesn't become gravid by the pairings at least she will gain some weight from the regular rats!

I too generally go by a 2 years old and 1500 grams rule, but I too also take into account the female's overall body shape--too skinny and I don't breed her.

I've seen Adam's post before on weights at first breeding vs the number of eggs she produces over her life. Personally, I would prefer to hold off on breeding one more year if I need to, if it means that when she's a full-grown adult, she will give me nice 12-14 egg clutches as opposed to 6 egg clutches for the rest of her life. I mean, it's one year, one clutch that you'd be missing out on, but that female might have the potential to lay 10-12 egg clutches (even if you're considering it conservatively) for ~10 years. Do the math: 10 years X 11 eggs: 110 eggs. 11 years X 6 eggs: 66 eggs. Big difference. ;) And I'd rather wait that year if need be and see if the female will reach that potential.

I got a 2008 female that I'm going to give a go this spring.. :D If the het's I got first of the year keep growing like they are they might have a go late the season.. :D

We'll see how it goes

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

As long as a female is up to breeding weight, what is the earliest you'd breed her?

New to the breeding scene and I know there are a lot of opinions. Your thoughts?

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I have a 20 month old female pied clown that just ovulated and should drop her 7 egg clutch In about 27 days, but most of my females are not large enough to breed until they're 3 years old. With me it's all about the weight if they are at 1500 grams or more they breed.

Good luck

Brian