Quote Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany View Post
I see what you mean. But from what I'm reading on the forum here is that people don't want to breed their females less than 1500g because they think the female will get eggbound. That's pretty much the message I'm getting when they say the recommended weight is 1500g. I would definitely make sure my female is more than 1500g when I breed her (well, she's 988g now so this Fall she'll be well over 1500g from what I'm feeding her) so I get a larger clutch, but I wouldn't be that worried if I bred her at 1300g or even 1200g. I do have two other females that I plan on breeding, so if I keep getting small clutches from my largest female I could always get larger clutches from the other girls. I guess this is why it's good to have more females than males
A lot of it also depends on the individual animal. Being able to "read" your animals is a very valuable tool. I have a female that I have no problem breeding when she is 1300g-1400g or so. She's also older (2004) which makes a difference. Though she is around four feet in length, she has a "maximum" weight of about 1450g when she's not gravid. That's about as thick as she gets. When she was gravid last season, she reached 1682 grams before going off feed. After defecating, she dropped down to 1600g. She was about 1550g before laying, and 1094g afterward. She's back up to 1470g-1475g and has been sitting at that weight for over two months despite feeding every week on 1-2 small rats.

On the other side, I have a female who weighed 1568g at the beginning of November and has eaten almost every week (also a 2004 female) that I am not breeding this year. I even have a female that weighed 1904g at the beginning of November and is pounding 1-2 small rats every week that I am also not breeding. She is a larger female from 2002 who I do not feel is ready to produce another clutch. The female that I purchased with her that is also from 2002 weighs about 2500g.

So it also depends on the size/build of the animal, not just the weight. Also, muscle vs fat plays a role.