Female Breeding Sizes

[aaajohnson]

Weight is not the only factor ... many times you end up wearing out males on females that just won't go ... 1200, 1300, 1400 grams is "possible" but not likely in the grand scheme of things ... I typically get 90% of everything that I breed (female wise) to go when over 1500 grams and in their 3rd winter or beyond ... for young girls, or girls under 1500 grams I've traditionally been about 10% until this year.
-adam

Adam,

So do you normally "try" females that are under 1500 grams to see what they will do, or do you pick select ones that you think will be able to produce?

I can see the wisdom in waiting especially if you only have a couple of females, and throwing them off for another year would not be good.

Neil

[Adam_Wysocki]

Adam,

So do you normally "try" females that are under 1500 grams to see what they will do, or do you pick select ones that you think will be able to produce?

I can see the wisdom in waiting especially if you only have a couple of females, and throwing them off for another year would not be good.

Neil

It depends ... this year for the first time, I did a lot better than 10% for getting younger, smaller girls to go ... I think that I'm getting a better feel for who's going to work and who's not ... In the past it's been more of a roll of the dice ... Some projects you just have to try I think ... I've never produced caramels before, and I had some younger smaller het caramel girls this year that were right on the edge, so I tried them ... and it paid off ... but, I also had a second group of het girls that I saved for this up coming year, so it wasn't too hard of a call to make. If I only had a couple of het caramel girls "on the edge", as much as I would have wanted to try them, I probably would have been conservative and waited.

I'm really more on the conservative side when it comes to the snakes.

-adam

[ssscales]

I'm pretty sure I'll have 5-6 of my girls within 1200-1400 by February, but I'll probably wait and see how it goes before I decide whether or not to breed them this season. Like Adam said, it may not be worth it in the full scope of things!

These girls have been great and I don't want to throw them off balance for next season just to get a few eggs next year.

[Emilio]

I guess any which way you put it I'm better off raising CH babie's and waiting it out.It make's sense that they'd try to sell off stubborn breeder's.

[cassandra]

It make's sense that they'd try to sell off stubborn breeder's.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that as long a) they sell them as pets at pet prices, making sure prospective buyers know about the animals unsuccessful breeding history and b) they aren't also trying to push snakes that are stubborn feeders or overly aggressive. =)