WIll my BPs be ready for the next Breeding Season?

I have been happily feeding my two BPs once per week and other than intermittent spots over the winter (which I understand is normal), they've been eating pretty steady.

I'd really like to breed them next fall ('10). He's an '09 at 269 grams and she is an '08 at 629 grams. Now that I've watched the latest SnakeBytes video on pet vs. breeder, I'm wondering if I should be increasing the frequency of their feedings. Is there still a good chance they could make appropriate breeding weight by fall (and would I need to increase their feedings to do so) or should I just concentrate on fall '11 so I don't get my hopes up?

The male will be ready.
The female might make it. Your snakes are young and growing, so it won't hurt to increase the food a little. Maybe if you normally only feed them one item each, let them get it down and then offer a second item. Or, if you feed every 7 days, try feeding every 5 days.
I know you want to breed and produce the albinos, but it takes time!
Your female needs to be at least 40 inches long, or she may get egg bound.

feed them how you normally do and shoot for next season unless u have an growth spurt and they make size and weight for this year

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Originally Posted by Jason Bowden

Your female needs to be at least 40 inches long, or she may get egg bound.

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This some sort of new rule? Never heard this one before.

No need to rush into breeding.

If the female is ready she will produce, if she isn't she wont. Obviously the more mass she has the healthier the clutch will be and the bigger clutch as well, BUT and I stress this part, don't overfeed. Overfeeding can cause her to become fat and sluggish and more than likely she will not produce a viable clutch.

My male YB was breeding for me at 350g, so males it all depend on if they are producing sperm plugs, but like females they can go off feed while breeding so having them a little larger doesn't hurt either, but a fat male makes a lazy breeder.

I certainly don't want to rush into anything. Health is my primary concern. I'm not worried at all about the male. As long as he keeps taking his weekly rat I'm sure he'll grow plenty. I was going to just keep giving the female her weekly rat as well and hope she gets to 1500g by October (Is that still the weight target? I've heard differing opinions.) The only reason I was considering changing the frequency was because of the BHB recommendation on the latest Snakebytes.

So if I stick with one appropriate-sized rat per week (i.e. same size as girth of the snake) then that's the appropriate schedule whether breeding or not?

(As a relative newbie to the BP-world, I find it confusing when I see varying opinions from the different breeders.) :rolleye2:

i would say stick to what you are comfortable with and as long as they eat they will gain weight and are healthy stick to how your doing it.

I have to say, actually, probably NOT. You can try--you'll have to ramp up your feeding to every 5 days, at least. The male will be ready with no problem, but not that female who is only 600 grams. My guess is, she'll hit 1200, but there's a VERY low chance she'll make it to 1500.
Given that many young female balls go through a finicky winter between 800 and 1200 grams, you will most likely have to wait until the following year. From my experience, what they gained in the previous year is roughly what you can expect them to gain in the following year. Gaining 900 grams isn't out of the question in a year, but in only 6 months? It's pretty unlikely.

I'd just keep feeding them normally. She may have a growth spurt or something, but probably won't be ready, though you never know.

What I wouldn't do is to start powerfeeding her and cramming food into her just to try and get her up to size. What's another year of waiting if it means you have a large healthy female who will breed for you for many many years?

its too hard to say if they will be ready. i have a female 08 that eats like a champ but for the longest time she stayed between 600 and 750 grams. in the last few months she went through a growth spurt and now weighs 1500 grams.
i also have another two girls (09's) that were the same size when i got them. one now weighs aprox just under 600 and the other is up to 1000 grams.
what i am trying to say is that some grow slow, some fast, some grow steady, and some in spurts. they all grow at their own pace whether we like it or not.
all we can do is enjoy them when we get the opportunity.
and just for the record i only feed once a week an appropriately sized meal.
john

If they keep feeding regularly, they should both be large enough. The female might be a leeetle on the small side, but she could make it.

I'd really like to discourage feeding multiple food items in one session without stepping on anybodies toes. I'm sure people do it with success, but there can be problems.

I've personally had it happen twice. I asked around, and somebody told me I should feed multiple food items in one feeding to speed up growth. So I tried it with 8 of my 150 gram to 225 gram bp morphs. Anyway 6 of them did awesome on this program. They seemed happy, and healthy all the time. Once they pooped we'd feed them again with 2 to 3 small fuzzies. but 2 of these ball pythons didn't poop for 2 weeks. They became skinny, and limp. The other bp's pooped on a schedule of 3 to 5 days. Anyway I asked around, and the same person that told me I should try this told me it could kill the snakes if their digestive tract didn't process the food right. Well I spoke to a friend online who is a vet, and she told me there are two ways to go about saving them. #1 raise their temps about 5 to 8 degrees, and keep them moist until they pass the food, and shed, then regulate their temps to normal and hope for the best. Or #2 if it gets any worse surgery would be needed to remove the obstruction before the food literally rotted inside them, and killed them.

Well, luckily option #1 helped. They're alive, and starting to eat on a regular basis. I don't know if I'm going over board, but until their weights are a little above normal I'm only feeding them small-ish food items for another month or two.

Now for the others, I decided to switch them over to asf rats every 4 to 6 days. The prey item is the size of the largest girth of the snake or slightly larger.

Now to stay on topic: The point is that all the males that are 09's have grown rapidly on the asf proper feeding regimen. They're all between 400, and 600 grams. Now get this! I have a female het caramel that has jumped to almost 800 grams, and a spider male who is almost 800 grams.

So basically I'm just saying if you're gonna rush the snakes into breeding early in my opinion ( it's only that ) the best way is to give them their natural food ( african soft furs ) at a safe but accelerated rate. Just be careful to slow them down as they mature or you'll end up with obese males that wont breed.

Hope this is helpful.