How long should I give her to recover?

[Jay_Bunny]

I have a normal female that I bred this season. I began pairing her up in late September. She weighed around 1800g. She had her pre-lay shed on February 23rd and laid eggs on May 4th. She weighed a little more than 1300g after laying and the eggs weighed 501g together. She had a mouse the week after laying then I bumped her up to small rats. She is currently 1466g. How long should I wait before breeding her again?

[Laooda]

I'm still feeding 2 (sometimes 3) small rats to my females that laid this season every week... Even my smallest girl that went would look at a mouse size meal and defentlly want more. Is your female acting hungry after 1 sm rat? You might want to offer her 2?

[Emilio]

She might not go again sometimes they'll take a year off after breeding. I tried both of the girls that bred for me last season and only one has shown signs of being gravid so far. And I don't think it has everything to do with weight cause my big girl is 2400g's and she is one who hasn't shown signs yet.

[Jay_Bunny]

I will try and weigh one of the small rats on the next feeding day. The only reason I gave her a mouse was she used to be a really picky eater. (when I first brought her home she went on a 4 month feeding strike). The small rats I feed her tend to be 80+g. Should I be feeding her more than that?

I don't want to stress her out too much by trying to make her breed when she's not ready. But I am wondering how other breeders do it. Most breeders start off breeding in October or November and get eggs by March, April or May then they all hatch around this time. So those females that bred and laid, do they put them back into the breeding program for the next season, or give them a year off, or just breed them later than usual?

[WingedWolfPsion]

I personally go by weight--when all of my females are back slightly above the previous season's pre-breeding weight, then I start cycling for the next season--no earlier than October, though. There's no point starting early, they are going to lay when they want to, the next year. lol.

[granny farbuckle]

My only female to give me a clutch this year layed her eggs in April, quite nice and early. Am feeding her as much as she wants to eat and as already mentioned will get her weight a good bit higher than it was last year when breeding started before thinking about breeding her again. Hopefully she will be nice and ready by about November / December. If she goes again this coming season she will then have a year off to have a good rest.