I think Im ready.

Hey guys, its been a while since I have been on and made a post, I have been busy with school, and unfortunately summer school. In this time, my little female albino has grown so much and is roughly 1240 grams, and growing. My normal male is showing all the characteristic "ready to breed" signs, like not eating very often, cooling off, no longer sitting in the heated area of the tub etc... He is for sure ready considering he is around 1200 grams too. So I'm just curious, can my female breed at this weight? Some have told me 1500 grams is a preferable weight, but I have also heard 1200 grams will suffice. Let me know what you guys think. I just don't want to hurt my snake if she is premature.

Well since breeding season typically starts in Oct., she should be at 1500+ grams by then.

ok sounds like your ready..but i would prefer u did it at 1500 grams. dont want her eggs to get ..well u know.. and then she dies.. start this oct.. start feeding her double and get her nice and plump and ready. be safe dont risk her life.

Yeah I think I'll do that, I'm a little hesitant on the power feeding though. Maybe I'll feed her a little bit more often but I'm not going to double her food intake. But just out of curiosity, has anyone bred at 1200 grams successfully?

Well, a good weight would be 1500 grams. In this time, you can try to feed her some large meals to get her weight up. Though, you can breed a female between 1200-1500 grams. She can breed, or, you can try to feed her more meals so she can gain a little weight.

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Originally Posted by pythontricker

Yeah I think I'll do that, I'm a little hesitant on the power feeding though. Maybe I'll feed her a little bit more often but I'm not going to double her food intake. But just out of curiosity, has anyone bred at 1200 grams successfully?

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Many people have bred females succesfully at 1200-1300 grams. I'm pretty sure your female will be fine to breed.

power feeding her probably wouldnt be a good idea. She should be at 1500 or close to it by breeding season. Breeding a girl at 1200 grams has been done before

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Originally Posted by pythontricker

Yeah I think I'll do that, I'm a little hesitant on the power feeding though. Maybe I'll feed her a little bit more often but I'm not going to double her food intake. But just out of curiosity, has anyone bred at 1200 grams successfully?

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It has been done bro.. But i tell you its not worth taking the chance and losing a breeder. I know ur really stoked that your almost there. I didn't mean power feed. I mean instead of 1 or 2 mice.. offer 3 or even four if she will take it.. now if your doing rat pups go only two at a time.. power feeding is not good but you can double on the servings. I feed my 08 females 2 or 3 mice at one shot..some dont agree with it but they are very healthy. non over weight or anything i feed my 07 3 or 4 mice if she will take it. Just add another mouse to the tank and if she goes for it you good. if she doesn't after 5 minutes take it out and offer it two or three days later

one of my females bred at about 1250g last season and laid 4 bad eggs 2 weeks ago :( but not sure if it had to do with her weight. im waiting till 1500g from now on tho... how old is ur female now?

i would think that adding more mice into a feeding is still powerfeeding. your not feeding multiple times a week but your feeding more so IMO it balances out to be powerfeeding.

be careful when you put the mouse in with you snake fluffy, before you know it the snake will strike and the mouse can bite the snake. When im feeding i hold the rat by the tail to get a headshot. If the rat were to bite the snake still I already have my hand n the enclosure to stop it

I dont think you would really have to worry much about losing a breeder by breeding it at 1200 grams. The bigger the better, you can get more eggs from a bigger snake

The minimum I thought was recommended by breeders was 1500g. MINIMUM. I wouldn't breed her at all if she wasn't above 1500g.

Patience my friend, patience.

*three or four mice at a time is considered powerfeeding. She will be ready by october, keep doing what your doing and she will be fine. Good luck this breeding season, hope you get plenty of hets.

One problem with breeding a smaller snake is it takes a tremendous amount of body wieght to produce eggs. A 1500 gram snake can weigh as little as 900 grams(or less) after laying a clutch. Anyone who has bred these snakes has seen how deflated and the dramtic loss of weight body mass afterwards. There skin looks like its hanging on them.

You do that with a smaller younger snake and the effect can be even more. Now some snakes never get real big(like people) and if they are an established adult 3+ years old who eats regularly but never gets larger than I would say yeah shes healthy just a runt. You wont see a huge clutch but long term she will be fine.

Many breeders feel the long term maximum growth of the female will be stunted by breeding too small which causes the animal to loose so much body weight and then always trying to recover instead of continuing to grow. So if you just wait for her to get a little larger she will recover faster, easier and continue to grow. Age is also a very important factor. Older, healthy but small OK, young and small not as good.

I have a 3500 gram virgin pastel that is ready to ovulate and I'm crossing my fingers for big things:)

The best advice with these guys is patience;)

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Originally Posted by matt71915

i would think that adding more mice into a feeding is still powerfeeding. your not feeding multiple times a week but your feeding more so IMO it balances out to be powerfeeding.

be careful when you put the mouse in with you snake fluffy, before you know it the snake will strike and the mouse can bite the snake. When im feeding i hold the rat by the tail to get a headshot. If the rat were to bite the snake still I already have my hand n the enclosure to stop it

I dont think you would really have to worry much about losing a breeder by breeding it at 1200 grams. The bigger the better, you can get more eggs from a bigger snake

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lol I know how to feed a snake. :gj: just giving you a hard time. haha but thanks for the info.

Yeah I'm going to wait until shes 1500 grams. Hopefully thats by oct. If not, then I can still wait, its not worth the worry. IMO.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

The best advice with these guys is patience;)

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I agree. Thanks for all of the awesome info guys. I'm optimistic, (more currently a well informed pessimist, but you know, same difference. :gj:) and I am hoping for a great first season. Thanks again!

Raul's post was very informative and right on point in my opinion.

I'd like to add that yes breeding a smaller female has been done, as has using a quite small male in a breeding situation, however, most of the successes at this involve experienced breeders. Those people having gone through many breeding cycles with their snakes are more aware of the signs of problems brewing and are better able to assess and immediately deal with serious issues.

I think when you are new at anything, especially when it involves a living creature, you need to be patient and cautious. There's no rush in my mind to breed a female snake if there is a doubt in the mind of the owner whether she is ready or not. Take your time is my advice. Use the coming months to allow her to gain more weight in a healthy manner and to give yourself that time to continue learning about the interesting process of breeding your two snakes. I think that time will be invaluable. :)

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Originally Posted by saldanasnakes

*three or four mice at a time is considered powerfeeding. She will be ready by october, keep doing what your doing and she will be fine. Good luck this breeding season, hope you get plenty of hets.

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I disagree. I've always been under the impression that powerfeeding is when you force the snake to eat more than it wants to. Usually by hand feeding it another item as it's taking down the first. Where the idea that powerfeeding is letting the snake eat more than usual because it wants to came from, I have no idea.

Three or four mice would still probably only be 100 grams, which is a perfectly fine meal for an adult ball python.

She probably could breed at 1240 grams, but if I were you I would wait until breeding season, which is around November / December.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

One problem with breeding a smaller snake is it takes a tremendous amount of body wieght to produce eggs. A 1500 gram snake can weigh as little as 900 grams(or less) after laying a clutch. Anyone who has bred these snakes has seen how deflated and the dramtic loss of weight body mass afterwards. There skin looks like its hanging on them.

You do that with a smaller younger snake and the effect can be even more.

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I don't know if I agree with this. A smaller female will just produce smaller, and fewer, eggs, so will lose the same percentage of body weight as a larger female that lays larger, and more, eggs.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

The minimum I thought was recommended by breeders was 1500g. MINIMUM. I wouldn't breed her at all if she wasn't above 1500g.

Patience my friend, patience.

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I bred a female at 1200 grams this year, and she had no problems laying eggs.

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Originally Posted by m00kfu

I disagree. I've always been under the impression that powerfeeding is when you force the snake to eat more than it wants to. Usually by hand feeding it another item as it's taking down the first. Where the idea that powerfeeding is letting the snake eat more than usual because it wants to came from, I have no idea.

Three or four mice would still probably only be 100 grams, which is a perfectly fine meal for an adult ball python.

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I thought so too, but i would think even if you did feed her or "power feed" her as they say... wouldnt the snake not eat the next time around if you over did it ??? I dont know

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Originally Posted by harm286

I thought so too, but i would think even if you did feed her or "power feed" her as they say... wouldnt the snake not eat the next time around if you over did it ??? I dont know

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Yes, the problem with feeding meals that are too big, or feeding them too many, may cause them to become less of a consistent eater. I like to feed all of my sub-adult and adult ball pythons one small rat every seven days. They will get to breeding size when they get there.

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Originally Posted by harm286

I thought so too, but i would think even if you did feed her or "power feed" her as they say... wouldnt the snake not eat the next time around if you over did it ??? I dont know

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Exactly my point. If the snake is willingly taking the prey item on it's own without you shoving it down her throat, I'd call that plain old feeding. ;) It IS possible for some to have too big of an appetite and become obese, but most ball pythons will stop eating on their own.