I'm wondering about this "eggs before she's ready thing" I keep seeing.

Has it occurred to ANY of you that if a female ovulates, even if it's only one or two eggs, that SHE is obviously ready and able to do so or she WOULDN'T produce follicles to begin with.

MAYBE some of you, unbeknownst to your own selves, are simply greedy. If she only lays one or two eggs, the she surely must not be ready to breed because if we wait another year or two she'll lay, what, 4 or 5 or 6 eggs? What's an average clutch? 5?

So, if a girl can successfully lay 2 eggs, and it doesn't affect her detrimentally, what's the problem? She's young? Well, she produced the follicles so obviously she's old enough.

She will lay MORE eggs if you wait longer. Hmmmmm, she's ready now, but will only lay a couple of eggs. Not much chance of profit or playing the odds there. BUT, if you wait, she'll lay a larger clutch will will not only enhance your chances of getting the combo you want, but will......heh, will what? Other than increasing your odds on a combo or profit by laying more eggs, what is the benefit to the female to wait?

But, I suppose as long as all those experts out there, having produced one or two or no clutches at all, know far better than the snakes themselves what is healthy for them.

I'm not advocating the breeding of small or young females but I am saying that all this crap about how dangerous it is to have a small female "lay an unexpected clutch" is just that, crap. If she's able then she's ready or she is not suitable for further contributions to the gene pool in which case nature will weed her out and solve the problem.

How many 4000g females do you suppose there are in the wild that breed? How many in the 1200g range? I bet there are WAY more small females breeding in the wild than large. I don't reckon there are a whole lot of 9, 10, 12 egg clutches from wild females but can easily imagine a bunch of 3 and 4 egg batches.

I just don't see that particular argument as valid.