Any experienced breeders here yet?

[RPlank]

Don't know if anyone here is an experienced breeder, but I have a question for anyone who has sucessfully bred BP's. I have a female that is right at 1200g. My male is already cycled and breeding another female. I was not planning on using my 1200g female this year, but she has put on those last 200g in the last month and a half. I know most people go by the 1500 g rule for females. Has anyone had any success breeding a 1200 g female? I am wondering if I should start cycling her now, or maybe wait and feed her heavily for a couple more months, then cycle her and breed her late in the season, or wait till next year. I think she is a '01 model. Thanks for any input!

[BallKingdom]

Just waitin for the female to hit 1,500, and trust me, the bigger one if flyin up the scale!

[RandyRemington]

Put her with Zeus!

I don't have a ton of experience but it seems to me that they will either breed or they won’t and there doesn't seem to be much harm in trying (ball pythons aren't very prone to get egg bound and I'm not sure I buy the stunting theory - can't disprove it though either). If you give it a try with a borderline pair then if anything comes of it it's pure gravy.

I just saw a ghost female the other night that first produced at 850 grams. I didn't ask but would have estimated her in the 1,000 to 1,200 gram range now and he said she had bred several years in a row and produced decent sized clutches (like 5 to 7 if I remember right). Maybe this is an example of stunting but I'm thinking that given the extremely small initial breeding weight and apparently the extremely small egg size she is just an example of a small ball (maybe with ancestors from a local population of small balls). Maybe if he had waited for 1,500 grams he would still be weighting (probably not, but who knows, if she started breeding at not much over half weight then reaching 1,500 grams for her might be like reaching 3,000 grams for normal balls, most probably have that potential but some might not and will at least take a while).

It was really an interesting visit as he also had an example of confirmed sperm retention (bred ghost X ghost in year one and got all ghosts, bred to a pastel in year two and still got all ghosts and no pastels, no reason to think the pastel just happened to be het ghost). He also had a friend with a male pastel who successfully bred at some outrageously small size, like 360 grams or something like that (defiantly under 400 grams, just don't remember exactly 300 what).

So, how has your borderline female done the lately? It sounded like she might have been hitting the “breeding imperative appetite surge” so might well eat through the breeding season and be well up to 1,500 grams by spring.

[Chondro788]

I agree, I would go ahead and cycle her, but continue to feed her as much as she will eat. All my girls who "want" to breed eat GREAT up until close to ovulation. I tried a 1200 gram girl last year, she went through all the motions and bred like a champ, but never did develope any follciles. I think this was her way of saying "no I'm too small"
But it certainly did no harm in trying.
Jason

[RPlank]

Funny you should mention Zeus! He is producing sperm plugs!
I have another issue with him, though, that may require a vet trip first.
He got bit by a rat on the neck the other night while feeding (he still hasn't switched to P/K). Now he is FULL of air! He is at least twice his normal size, and the rat was nowhere near that big! If it doesn't fix itself by Thursday (my day off), we are making a vet trip.
He appears to be feeling ok, other than looking HUGE!
Any experiences with something like this?

[RandyRemington]

I used to see my bigger snakes gas up for a little bit right after a big meal some times but haven't seen it recently and never really figured out why it was happening. Doesn't look too comfortable. I wouldn't think it would have anything to do with the bite but maybe best to run both by a vet if possible anyway, especially if it doesn't clear up soon. I suppose too hot or too cold might cause digestion problems but not sure which or if something else might be related to the gas. Not sure if a soak would help (could he be compacted too?) but I suppose don't want to handle him too much right now.

Best of luck, hopefully it will be gone very soon.

[emroul]

Hey speaking of sperm plugs, Caesar is producing them too!! My, how fast they grow up :mrgreen:

Anyway, don't really know what to say about the rat bite, man. I hope it clears up okay. Good luck.

Jen

[RPlank]

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention I did soak and gently massage him this morning. He passed some urea, and something that looked exactly like urea, but it was olive green!
Hope he's ok....I'd like to try breeding him this year!

[CTReptileRescue]

Randy,
I have accually seen Septicemia in a few different species of snakes. Not that this is what is occuring but here's some info:
Taken from:
http://www.cah.com/library/snakdis.html

Septicemia
A wide variety of bacteria can cause generalized internal infections (septicemia). These bacteria may invade the body by way of wounds and abscesses or as a consequence of serious illness originally localized in the respiratory, gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts. Signs may be subtle or obvious and may include lethargy, anorexia, dehydration, vomiting of incompletely digested food, redness of the skin and scales, or bleeding from the skin.
The help of an experienced veterinarian is essential in these cases. The outlook for these patients is always guarded to poor. The attending veterinarian may collect a specimen for bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity testing, as well as one or more blood samples to more accurately determine the extent of the disease, whether or not various internal organs are involved, and as a means of monitoring the patient's progress. Treatment involves use of indictable antibiotics and appropriate supportive care (fluid therapy, force-feeding, indictable vitamins, etc.). Treatment must usually be relatively long-term and periodic monitoring of the patient's status is essential to a favorable outcome.

Not at all that I am diagnosing, but it just sounded as if one of the many sighns were there. Thought I'd share.
Thanks
Rusty
PS please keep us updated on your BP's health

[RPlank]

Great info! Thanks, Rusty!