Breeding a Female Without Pre-Gravid Weight, Suggestions Please

[OctagonGecko729]

The title is a bit ambiguous. Here's the deal. I got a gravid female subsaharan girl in last year in Jan. she was already gravid and weighed 3500g she dropped 11healthy eggs that were all 125g or so. She is currently at 2200-2400g. She has been bowl wrapping for the past two months. I have a higher end male which is currently only hitting one girl a month. Do you all think she is at a safe weight to produce a bunch of pastel het clowns for me?

[dr del]

How does she seem regarding body condition?

How is she eating - I'm kind of surprised she didn't gain more weight back.

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

Based on your pre-lay weight of 3500g last season with a ~1375g clutch, it does not appear she has gained ANY weight back??

3500g- 1375g clutch= 2125g post lay weight.

I really feel that even if she was back to 2500g I would not pair her. 2500g is a good weight- but not for a female that was 3500g last year. I would start thinking about pairing at 3000g. Even at that point she is down 15% body weight. You'll likely get eggs, but probably not 10-11 again.

I would hold off for a bit and put her on a 4-5 day feeding schedule and give her fresh water daily in large bowl. Sandwhich her in your rack between some heavy hitter feeders, so she feels and smells what is going on, and feed her last. Medium or large rats for the calcium.

[OctagonGecko729]

Being wild caught she refuses rats and is quite scared of them. Even very small just weaned rats. We have been feeding her ASFs from a supplier that is 3 hours away but feedings are few and far between. We have a ASF colony now which has produced two litters so far. The babies will probably be another month before they are feeding size.

I will go ahead and just leave her be. I just thought it was strange that she was showing building behavior when I was pretty sure she wasn't ready.

[OctagonGecko729]

Oh forgot to add I just weighed her and she is 2500g. As far as body condition. She is on the light side but by no means skinny. She just isn't up to the weight that she should be since she is pushing 5ft

[OctagonGecko729]

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

My girls in the 4ft area are larger in girth than her. She looks skinny for her length. I think she needs this season off.

[JMinILM]

Especially with that feeding plan. If you could get her on a more regular feeding plan she would probably put the weight back on pretty quickly. Do you know if she was bred the year before? She might need to take a year off anyway.

[don15681]

put a male in with her and don't let them lock, maybe a few hours. sometimes this will get a female feeding again. I would try mice instead of asf. asf take a lot longer to get to size for a female that large. if the male stimulates her, her feeding response should kick in. many of my females that only eat one type of rodents, will eat anything right before or the beginning of their breeding cycle. once on feed, a long thin female can put weight on quickly. if not give her the year off. good luck with her, don