Bumble bee too small to breed?

[RichsBallPythons]

I would never breed a female that isn't 1500 grams at MINIMUM, going into the breeding season. On the few occasions I have had females that weight go off feed and wind up lighter, the eggs they produced were tiny and few. The females did not show continued fast growth over the next summer.

1500 grams and 3 years of age should be the goal to shoot for. Some 2 year olds that are well over that weight will do well, too. I wouldn't breed a one year old, that's ridiculous.

There are some photos around now of small/young females that have aborted their follicles, so that's one more thing that might happen as a result of trying to breed a female that isn't ready.

People are impatient, and it's not in the animal's best interests.

The ops female is 21 months old, by time it would lay would be well over 2 years old. Not sure where you got 1 year old from.

The 1500g 3 year rule is fine and dandy for you to follow but its not a proven fact females must be this or they dont breed. Also not good to push it on others, experience prevails what one individual is comfortable with doing with THEIR snakes.

And breeding small females or young does not cause aborted Ova. This occurrence is very very rare. And the exact cause is unknown as to why females do so, cause some females have done it whos never been bred.


Ive stated this hundreds of times. There's a 6 years old female in my collection, I raised from day one. Shes barely 1400g been that size entire life, and has dropped consistently 5-8 eggs every year since she was 1.5 years old. Females being larger dont ensure better results on clutch size.