Should I breed her?

I was looking to get peoples opinion on this.

I purchased an adult pewter female at the end of June. She weighed 1882 grams. She has not eaten since I got her and is now 1430 grams. I read where someone said they breed their females regardless of if they are eating or not. They said it can stimulate some non-feeders to start feeding.

My question is can I/ should I breed her this year or wait until she starts to feed again before trying?

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

I'm sure you already know this, but sometimes they go off food for breeding season.... June is a little early to go off, probably, but you get the idea.

If it were me, just for my own piece of mind, I'd want her to eat something before breeding.

Most folks say 1200 grams is OK though, so I wouldn't worry too much, unless you're like me and you already know you're gonna' stress.

1500 is safer, I'd wait until she's stable before risking it. 'Cause if the cause is that she's stressed out, then why risk the snake?

If you want permission, then go ahead.

Im pretty much sticking to 1500g before i breed, but in your case I would just wait. I woldnt breed a female that wasnt eating for me after purchasing her. Take the risk of breeding her and something going wrong, or just wait and have piece of mind and hopefully she starts eating.. Just my .02

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1500 is safer, I'd wait until she's stable before risking it.

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So gaining 70 grams makes it safe to breed a female that's lost 400+ grams?
That makes no sense, sorry.

I absolutely would not waste my time breeding a female that's lost 400 grams, unless I wanted some pretty slugs to play with...
My advise is to get her eating and gaining weight before thinking of breeding her :gj:

You've had her for around three months and she seems to have lost over 450 grams. It sounds like something is not right. Hopefully, you have quarantined her. If my facts are correct, I would not breed her until I figured out what is going on with her.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

So gaining 70 grams makes it safe to breed a female that's lost 400+ grams?
That makes no sense, sorry.

I absolutely would not waste my time breeding a female that's lost 400 grams, unless I wanted some pretty slugs to play with...
My advise is to get her eating and gaining weight before thinking of breeding her :gj:

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Fangs much?

Read the rest of the post. And no matter what I do I can't force someone not to breed based on my own judgment.

It depends on each animal. For example, I bred a 1400g female that´s all muscle and is young, but I have another female that´s been with me for 4 months only, she was weighting 1400g but was way underweight, she has the same head and length as a 3500g female. She´s now 2000g but you can tell she´s still underweight, so she probably has few or none fat reserves that are necessary for breeding. I´m not breeding her until next year. Losing 400g IMO is a lot, she´s supossed to start eating when growing follicles, maybe you can wait a little.

It's very important to realize that when it comes to weight, it's always relative to the size of the snake you plan on breeding! For example, I have a female normal who weighs in at about 2200 grams, she's not fat and she not the thin, the weight just looks right for her size. Now if she suddenly lost 400 grams, she'd still be considered breedable on paper yet in reality she'd actually be underweight which might cause some worry and prompt me not to breed her. So, when you are deciding to breed this female, take into account weather or not her weight looks good for her size, I've had snakes not feeding and dropping weight on me in the past simply because they're overweight and if that was the case, it'd probably be okay to breed her (just making sure she had a little bit of food to go off of before you did so would probably be a good idea though!) but if she's been losing tons of weight and looks thin it would be best to work her up to her previous weight first.

If you could post a current picture of her it would probably help people determine if she looks good to go or weather or not you may want to consider checking into a vet's office!

Thanks for the replies. I re-weighed her and she is at 1707 grams (complete user failure with the scale). She has shed twice since I got her (most recent 10/4). Not sure if that changes any opinions.

Here is a picture of her about a month again. I can post more recent pictures later tonight.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...size=960%2C720

I greatly appreciate your opinions.

@rigomez
Nice animal--don't know if it's the lighting, but there is a nice yellow glow.

Just to ask, so you haven't gotten her to eat at all under her care? I didn't want to assume off of your first post.

If not, I'd still hold off. Maybe even play it safe and see if you can get a vet to check her. Breeding puts stress on the animal, so it's better to play it towards safe than worry all those months that she might lay and then not eat at all, or do worse than that.

If so, for me, it's a toss up... it depends on the temps in your area (I don't know if you live in Australia, for example, and that's why she stopped eating in July). I still like to play it safe, since I value the snake's health more than I do the possible hatchlings.

I personally wouldn't breed a girl that hasn't been eating. Missing a few meals sure, but not enough that they have noticeably lost weight.

I think there are people here that have given their opinion and may be lacking some hands on experience when it comes to breeding which is ok but I will point out the obvious here: Recommended optimum age and weight is one thing however we are talking about something different here we are talking about an animal that has loss over 25% of it's body weight in less than 6 months.

Now I can't tell you what YOU should do because ultimately it's your animal and you will do what you want.

What would I do? Well I would not breed this animal until it's back to it's original weight and it not only a weight number I am aiming for for when I breed it's also a certain look and feel I want for my females, I have pass on breeding 1800 grams girls in the past because they did not feel right.

Now yes sometimes starting pairing a non feeder female will trigger her appetite back however you don't wait for the animal to lose over 25% of it's weight to do that.

I would say no. Personally, if she hadnt eaten since I bought her, I wouldnt be letting her out of quarantine yet, let alone trying to breed her.

I would also wonder what your setup if like? Have you talked to the previous owner about what they fed her/how they kept her?

Thanks everyone. Again, I re-weighed her at 1707 grams and not 1430. I must have done something wrong when I zeroed out the scale when i weighed her previously.

I will hold out on breeding until she has a few meals and some weight put back on. Hopefully she will end her hunger strike soon.