What Would You Do?

Hey everyone im wondering what would u do in my situation? I was hoping to breed 3 female normals this year to my boys. This is what they are currently sittin at (weighed them all up today), i was thinking of introducing one couple (1300gr F to 600Gr M mojave) tomorow but i had to ask opinions this before i did anything.

My Girls:
(All Normal)

Ardis - 1394 gr : she is just over 3 years old. (orginal owner said 2.5, 7 months ago)

Ancantha - 1074 :2.5yrs or so, ive had her for a year she was dropped off at a store i worked at n she was about 1.5 yrs old.

Adena - 1104 : she is little over 2 yrs old or just at. bought her from my old store had her for a year aswell, shes my best eater nvr ever missed, shes same size as Ancantha in every way.

My Boys:

(pastel) Bazuzu - 485gr hes a year and a half old (old owner said early 2010)

(spider) Cyrion - 542gr He was born June 15th 2010 making him 16 months old

(pinstripe) Deverhon - 506gr He was born june 7th 2011, he eatin every 5 to 6 days hes a champ i dont over feed he jsut puts on weight same lenght as Pastel.

(mojave) Eros - 604gr : He is was a very late 2009 ive been told who didnt want to eat. But like every other snake i bought from previous owners they didnt feed him correctly hes a long boy close to 24-30 inches long he eats fine for me, hasnt missed a week n had him for 5 months now.

So you all see how much my snakes weigh and how old they are what would you do im thinking of breeding all 3 girls if i notice a 75gr drop in the 2 smallest then im thinking of stopping their cycles n seeing from their. Im thinking that im going to breed the mojave, and spider to once female each n put the pastel and pinstripe to one female in oppiste schedual just because they r the smallest n 2 youngest.

What would you guys and girls do? or do you think its all fine?

Realisticly none of those females are ready yet. Maybe 1300g, but I dont like breeding them less than 1500g

I would feed the girls heavy for the next 4-6 weeks and then weigh them again. i like to have my females right around the 1500g mark and 2.5 - 3yrs old. You don't have to start breeding right this minute.

The males should be fine age wise but you may want to watch their weight. If they stop eating and lose weight you may have to pull them out of your breeding projects.

I am in the same boat as you with a male enchi I purchased in June. He is at 500g but I am going to wait til Jan to cycle him to females just so I can put some more weight on him. He may end up not producing but I am going to give it a shot.

I have heard of people attempting to introduce females at 1200 grams and having successful, though small, clutches. I would hold off on your other females until they put a bit more weight on. You could try and introduce the 1300 gram female to your mojo male and see how it goes. If they lock then you may get a small clutch. Personally, I would not risk it with any of the smaller girls. Just my opinion!

What are you feeding your girls and how often? If you give them a small rat every 4-5 days you should be able to get more weight on them fairly quickly. Since age counts in breeding too, you might be successful in breeding them now but you might also get smaller clutches.

Good eaters put on weight pretty fast if you let them. I have a proven breeder normal that was ~1600g on empty when I got her at the start of August. Even feeding her once a week (in all fairness she does usually get seconds if someone refuses) and she's ~2300-2400g now.

Personally, I would take the next two months to feed them up a bit. I would give a good sized rat every 5 days and then start pairing them in January/February.

As for the males, my 550g enchi has been breeding very nicely so far for me. He was around 500g the first time I paired him and he's still been eating like a champ. He's locked 4 times now for 12+ hours each. He stops eating I will stop pairing him, simple as that.

Yeah i figured that they wouldnt get the largerest clutches ever (4-6eggs). Plus will all this age and weight threads up i figured that id ask just to make sure.I know alot of it is about personal opinions but i asked for em lol. My plans were only the Mojave and the 1394 girl. They are all eating sm to med FT rats. The boys are eating 28 to 55gr rats, the girls are at 60-85gr range every 6 days but with the feeding frenzy started with thim for the past month its been every 5 days. I know i dont have to put them together right yet. If any of the boys when i do put them to the girls when they are ready, if i notice any weight drops i will pull them from the cycle for sure, dont want to harm any of my animals in anyway. I wasnt planning to breed for money just for the sheer happynesso f having babies of my own and possibly a female morph to later down the line make combo and maybe a male to trade for a new morph male.

I know that nov is the start of the breeding season which is the latest i could pair up at? i havnt heard to much about that just its starting and alot of smiley faces lol. thanks everyone.

(the rat weight varies sometimes my rat supplier puts smaller or larger rats in a bag to make it a 20 bag instead of 17 or 18.)

They go year round waiting another month won't hurt IMO. I just posted my opinions and what I would do in your situation. I have some girls ready to go but I am sticking to a routine this year hoping for some better results. I will start cycling my males on 12/1. Last year I didn't witness any locks until January and I started cycling mid November. From Jan - March they were locking like crazy.

It is all personal opinion and experiences no matter how much you read on any ball python topic someone does it differently so it is hard to give you a concrete answer.

I would probably breed the 1394 female...its only 100grm shy. Any of the male would breed usually. They have bred around 6 months old. I am using a male spider this year and its 550grms. I had quite a few lock up already.

the only thing u have to worry about with the males is if they go off feed, males that are 450g and go off feed can be scarey and u shouldnt give him more than a few days to lock then try to feed again. If he does go off feed i wouldnt breed him any more. The females will go if there ready reguardless of a couple hundred grams in my exsperience and i have bred a 1.5 year old mojo female and she did just fine but she was 1700g at the time

I agree with Shane, be careful with small males :gj:

I would breed every female right now with your Mojave. They will go into building mode and will gain the weight if they are ready to lay. I had a 1100 gram female build to 1700 grams and drop 7 eggs for me in three months. If they are not ready to produce they usually wont. As far as the market goes I can say I could sell 50 female mojave females between $250-$300 at a single show if i had that many. Pins, pastels, and spiders sell but not as easy. I would breed your females, feed them as much as they will eat, feel for follicles, and pair them up again. keep feeding your males small meals to keep them breeding. I feed males rats and if they stop feeding I will offer mice (I know a huge NO NO to most people) to keep them breeding. I think you should go for the gold if you have a good access to rodents and can keep your girls on food whenever they look like they want to feed. If you can't then wait another year on anything under 1400 grams. I have had one female lay at 930 grams. She laid 3 good eggs. I never planned on the breeding as I was young and had no idea what I was doing at the time. She laid fine and is still a great breeder. I do agree that the more weight the better. What a lot of people don't always know is pairing snakes up can also help females gain more weight even if they do not lay. They will go to building mode, gain weight and never lay.... which will be better for you the next year. Just my opinion and what I have done.

Off Topic Tip: Just a little thing I do sometime when I have a picky female go off feed when I know she should be feeding.....

EX: Female at 700 grams stops feeding for 3 months and I know she is not the age to breed. I will throw a male with her for one day. Sometimes they lock, sometimes they do not. The female 9/10 times go back on feed. They never lay, but do gain tons of weight....

I havent introduced any of my pythons yet, But they are all eating like champs. Im watching my smaller males to see how they are eating and acting. Im thinking the pastel will be my problem boy. He is a finicky eater some weeks but still eats. My youn pinstripe hasnt refused at all. The spider and mojave eat but want to go and see the girls its funny, they keep bombing around their tubs knocking over hides spilling water and crumpling up paper towel bedding. They are spending all their time on the right hand side of their tubs closest to the girls rack as they can get. All of my females are eating good they all ate last night no problems.

But last night i did some tank cleaning a few hours after they ate n relaxed i put my mojave in the large 64L cleaning tub while i clean his out. it was no problem then i put the biggest girl Ardis in (1394) she was flicking her tounge around like crazy walking around the tub with her tail tip up lol. I know from last year this time with my original ball python that shes looking for the boys n letting them smell her. After i put The big girl back in her tub i put the spider in the cleanin tub n he was going nuts. Ive never seen him move to fast n seem to intent on finding something, which im guessing would be her. He nvr hisses or puff but when i tried to take him out he got a little P.O at me n huffed n puffed n tracked my hand but never struck out. Funny to see boys go girl drunk lol reminded me of the bebe south park episode where the boys go neandertall lol hoota! llmao!

Last night i picked up 80 FT rats ive also got my own breeding colony of rats with 2 males 10 females n about 18 babies right now. So now that im stocked up im going to offer when every ive got a girl looking at me with the food eyes, not waiting every 5 days but i wont over feed 'em. Thanks for the advice and opinions everyone makes it a little easier to plan out what i will do or am capable of doing soon.

Thanks to JoeElliseReptiles for the tip about the one day to get them back on feeding Ancantha will finally get over 1200 gr now :D Ive also got a girl whos 2 yrs old named Aldara so will also benifit from this :D shes in at 897 right now weighed today n shes is empty, really empty shed, # 1 n 2 and now she is about to eat a 68gr FT rat.

Also i was thinking about put my mojave to 2 girls, one a for sure alll mojave breeding, n the other a whos ur daddy cluth with the pinstripe. Ive been asked about mojaves more then anything else lol what is up with that? big morph this year to make potions? everyone wants a potion. (or at least i do :D)