I have a female that currently weighs 1250-ish and has had a clutch of three already. I purchased her after she layed. Maturity and size are both important. Nature is awesome though. A younger/smaller girl is unlikely to have a 7+ egg clutch that will endanger her life. She won't be taxed too much. (Or so I'm reading)

I'll be starting the breeding process soon too as a beginner. I'll leave him unnamed, but I'll be taking the advice of a well known breeder: Gather up a pair of breed-ready normals and do a "test run" with them for a year or two before while your higher end morphs are growing. It would sure suck to make the rookie mistakes with your pieds, lavender albinos, blah blah. I get it, the normals are still animals, but mistakes will be made my first time or two--and beyond for that matter--but i will learn from those mistakes and it won't hurt as bad if I make mistakes with $40-$80 hatchlings vs. $500+. Learn the process of ovulation, pre-ov sheds, etc. with this "test" pair. Just a thought to consider. It's what I'll be doing.