If an 09 female is up to size should she breed ?

I will probably wait till next year but I was curious what you all think. My 09 normal female is 1957 grams. (I don't power feed; she gets 1 med rat a week and has never, ever skipped.) My pastel male is an 09 as well and weighs 2000 grams; he has gone off food and is acting like he is in the mood. I just wanted to know what you all would do.

I would pair them up! You got nothing to lose, if she is ready she will go!

How long have you been feeding them mediums?! I only do mediums (and they're small meds) once they hit around 1500-1700.

Sounds like a little more food than they need. But you can pair them up if you wish, I'd still wait a year as they may not know what to do, or it will be too soon for the female.

They where on small rat's until about 1200 grams then I switched to mediums, which aren't much bigger. The female has never refused so I think it's the right size. They are just big snakes they are both quite long and a proper girth not too fat.

Well it takes 2 years for the internal organs to mature, so if she was a early 09 like January or February, then she should be good to go. If she is a late 09, then i would wait, don't want her getting egg bound.

Friend of mine had female lay eggs at 17months of age

No one KNOWS when a female really matures, theres just a guideline that everyone follows. But truth be told its YOUR snakes and YOUR decision not ours. If shes of weight breed her, no harm will come of it if she dont take.

If I were you I would breed them. If she takes then awesome! If not then oh well try next season. I've heard of an 18 month old female lay 8 perfect eggs. It's your decision though. Good luck (:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Friend of mine had female lay eggs at 17months of age

No one KNOWS when a female really matures, theres just a guideline that everyone follows. But truth be told its YOUR snakes and YOUR decision not ours. If shes of weight breed her, no harm will come of it if she dont take.

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I know it is my decision and I would like to make the correct one, which is why I am asking for advice. I have never had a chance to breed before so I don't have any experience with snake breeding. I want to make sure I do the best thing for my snake.

I would wait a year--not because I think she couldn't handle it, but because I imagine if she's growing at this rate she'll be huge in a season, and probably more fecund. It'd be nice to have a 2000 gram female breeding this year, but it would be fantastic to have a 3500+ gram female breeding in 2011. She has monster potential, I would take advantage of that.

Cheers,
-Matt

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Originally Posted by Matt K

I would wait a year--not because I think she couldn't handle it, but because I imagine if she's growing at this rate she'll be huge in a season, and probably more fecund. It'd be nice to have a 2000 gram female breeding this year, but it would be fantastic to have a 3500+ gram female breeding in 2011. She has monster potential, I would take advantage of that.

Cheers,
-Matt

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I have thought the same thing and I think this is what I am going to do, the reason I am even asking is because a friend who has been breeding for a while keeps telling me to put them together and see what happens. I really just wanted to see what other experienced people think.

That is one huge 09!!!

I'd almost wait..

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Originally Posted by ed4281

I will probably wait till next year but I was curious what you all think. My 09 normal female is 1957 grams. (I don't power feed; she gets 1 med rat a week and has never, ever skipped.) My pastel male is an 09 as well and weighs 2000 grams; he has gone off food and is acting like he is in the mood. I just wanted to know what you all would do.

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Breed them. Your female is even big enough for all the "experts" to give you the OK.:D

Let BG ask you this. If your male came across your female in the wild....do you think he'd ask her how old she was before he started pulling out his thingy?:D

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Originally Posted by Big Gunns

If your male came across your female in the wild....do you think he'd ask her how old she was before he started pulling out his thingy?:D

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This is how I look at it too. If they bumped into each other in the wild...What is stopping them?

Ed, pair them up!! My pastel girl bred at a year of age. Same thing, she was fed one rat a week and was huge after a year, just a freaky metabolism.

My mojave female bred at 1 1/2 years old and laid a nice clutch of five eggs.... she was about 1800g at the time.

May I ask what morphs are they? The reason I am asking is unless you have some other 'bigger' plan for the girl next year, it will be ok to try them out now. Looking at the way she's been growing, she could just be up to size again in no time...

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Originally Posted by Blue Apple Herps

Ed, pair them up!! My pastel girl bred at a year of age. Same thing, she was fed one rat a week and was huge after a year, just a freaky metabolism.

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Matthew,

Is that her mother that was that big maybe it's genetic, because the male is huge too ?

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Originally Posted by ed4281

Matthew,

Is that her mother that was that big maybe it's genetic, because the male is huge too ?

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Ed, I think they were both from her IIRC. But the super pastel female I held back from that clutch is a year old now and only 700g. Maybe its genetic, maybe not. Who knows?

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Originally Posted by Blue Apple Herps

Ed, I think they were both from her IIRC. But the super pastel female I held back from that clutch is a year old now and only 700g. Maybe its genetic, maybe not. Who knows?

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I have been thinking a lot about how genes influence metabolism/growth.

I got a late '08 female pinstripe that weighed 2000 grams December '09, and I went through a similar period of trying to determine if I should let her keep growing or pair her up. I decided to pair her up when she decided to stop eating and was spending all her time in her water dish (I had not cooled her at all), so I put my mojave boy in with her and a few months later she laid 9 good eggs. The jigsaw that I kept from the clutch is huge, they hatch late July of this year and she is over 600 grams from a weekly feeding (she has gotten extra small meals a few times). I also still have a pinstripe male and mojave female from the clutch that are both growing super fast (400-500grams), and then there is one mojave girl that has been on the same schedule but is only around 200 grams. I have also been told that the other jigsaw female from the clutch is growing like a monster.

Hopefully the metabolism keeps up and the large clutch size is genetic as well.

It makes sense. I mean look at people. People grow at all different rates even though they eat somewhat similar amounts. Not surprising that snakes would have various growth rates as well.

She was obviously ready

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/1/5/2/1/0/102.jpg

hehehe congrats!

she ready to go .. :) congrats!!... :gj:

You have 2 sicko's... Who stares at them selves doing it together with your partner?? lol

Congrats!