Eggbound/slugs???... Not so much!!!

[Bill Buchman]

I posted this breeding to foster discussion more than anything else -- I am glad it worked!!

This girl was 1200 grams when I started breeding her the first of December. Most of my girls eat MANY rats as they reach the second half of follicle development -- this girl ate ONCE during breeding -- hence the weight loss. She was never thin -- just not a long snake. Her mass was more than good for breeding. As many of you know, one can add the clutch weight and the females weight after post-lay to get a fairly accurate PRE-OVULATION weight.

I don't as a rule breed 1200 gram females -- which is my "personal minimum weight" for girls. I bred this girl because she will be 3 years old in June, her genetics, and because she told me privately that she wanted to be a mommy. Bill loves the family values!!!!

For me, the 2 things that could resonably happen were: she would not go or she would slug-out. I don't consider becoming eggbound a real/legitimate risk for a captive bred healthy animal. It is something you occasionally see from wild caught girls who are small, dehydrated, and generally unhealthy.

I am not saying eggbound animals is an "urban myth" and NEVER happens -- it does. But it is SO RARE among BALL PYTHONS that it is difficult to find many breeders that have encountered it. It is a condition that is FAR more common in colubrids and other long, skinny snakes that lay large quantity clutches.

The odds of one of my breeder males getting a respitory during a long stressful breeding season and dying -- now THAT is what keeps me up at night -- the sick feeling of discovering an open-mounthed breathing boy -- or even worse -- BUBBLES. Those are REAL worries!!!

I would inform/remind everyone that only a few years ago you were accused of trying to "kill your breeder male" if you even THOUGHT of breeding him before he was at least 1000 grams and 18 months old.

While I know I am far from having a "reckless breeding philosophy", I also do breed 500-600 gram 6-8 month old males with both regularity and success -- and have also bred 1600 gram 20-22 month old females from time to time. At no point do I consider I am risking their life more than any other snake I am "playing god" with.

I am a numbers/odds guy for the most part in all aspects of my life -- including breeding. Hell, I only get out of bed in the morning because the odds that I will be hit by a bus that given day are... SLIM at best -- I think??.

I have learned TONS about keeping and breeding from books, blogs, forums, a few breeder friends I respect, etc. -- and continue learning -- EVERY DAY! But NOTHING can substitute for the first hand experience of tending and observing your animals, DOING BREEDING OF YOUR OWN, learning from both successes and failures, and... ROLLING THOSE DICE NOW AND AGAIN.