Clutch size concerning co-doms

[Brandon Osborne]

First - welcome to the forum!

I am not aware of morphology determining the size of a clutch. What seems more important is the size and age of the female. If you talk to many of the larger breeders, they'll tell you that they prefer now to let their females get to three years old or older before they first breed them. The females allowed an extra year or two to mature are consistently throwing the larger clutches for them.

The females that they bred at two years old consistently throw smaller clutches. And what's more interesting is that these same females, with more size and age on them, once they are bred young, seem to continue to throw smaller clutches, versus if they were allowed an additional year or two to mature.

Remember that each EGG from a co-dom breeding has a 50% chance (if bred to a normal) of resulting in a normal baby or a co-dom baby. So you could (and I have) get a clutch of nothing but normals.

Robin, I think it's just a myth to keep people behind in the game. I've bred females at 18-20 months with great results. I think size is the important factor when breeding. I've had plenty of females breed at 20-30 months old and have clutch sizes grow year after year. Just have to keep them feeding and feed them as much as they'll eat when they do.