getting to breeding size

[ARBallMorphs]

hey hello,

i got a question, i took home an 2013 albino female (pictures are in the picture part of the forum) when i first contacted her breeder he told me she was 350 grams, roughly 1 month later (yesterday) i picked her up and she was already 450 grams. so that makes about an 100 grams in 1 month.

now i do now an female has to be 1500 grams minimal before you let her breed so now my question would is:

can i hope for her to be ready for 2015 breeding season? or do you think i shouldn't get my hopes up for that?

i am wondering cause she got a 100 grams in a month and is still on mice and since i ofcourse want to move her up to rats as mice are to small for her. made me think she might gain some weight fast.

atm i feed my snakes once every 5 days.

please give me your thoughts

[RellesReptiles]

Being a 2013, it would put her at just about 1.5-2 years old for the 2015-2016 season (assuming she was born early in the year). It's POSSIBLE she could make it, but continue to feed her weekly and don't push too much or too large food on her.
If she makes it up to 1500g by that time, palpate her to check for follicles. If she has those she is ready.

[CryHavoc17]

Just depends on what exactly you mean by "breeding season". If you mean you mean the old school approach of start pairing over winter, aiming for a clutch in spring/early summer, then no probably not. If you mean the new school approach, where you start pairing whatever time of the year your girl is up to the size you are shooting for, then maybe. Plenty of people use both approachs successfully.

I think you'd have to feed the crap out of your girl to get her up to size before next summer, which personally is not something im a fan of.

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[rlditmars]

You can hope if you'd like. However, she going to do what she's going to do. Just about the time she gets to 1000 or 1110 grams and you think, "man here we go", that's when she goes off feed for 6 months. We have two that we thought would be ready to go by now. One is going on 3 years old and hovering around 1200 grams. The other one is sitting at about 1000 and currently off feed. Then we have a third that is younger than the 3 year old and she's good to go at almost 1600. It's a crapshoot. Here's hoping along with you that she cooperates.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There is never any guarantee, remember that right now she is growing and her metabolism is very different then what it will be in a few months, I have had female growing and breeding at 18 months (they were actually 1800 grams by then) but the majority will breed at 2 years, however I have had many females also not breeding before 3 years of age simply because when they reach 1000 grams they hit a wall, stop feeding and stop growing.

Again there is no guarantee even if she is ready does not mean she will go that season that's why you should not put all your eggs in the same basket and should have more then one female to pair.

[ARBallMorphs]

Being a 2013, it would put her at just about 1.5-2 years old for the 2015-2016 season (assuming she was born early in the year). It's POSSIBLE she could make it, but continue to feed her weekly and don't push too much or too large food on her.
If she makes it up to 1500g by that time, palpate her to check for follicles. If she has those she is ready.

hey no worries i wont "power feed" as that just can't be good for her

There is never any guarantee, remember that right now she is growing and her metabolism is very different then what it will be in a few months, I have had female growing and breeding at 18 months (they were actually 1800 grams by then) but the majority will breed at 2 years, however I have had many females also not breeding before 3 years of age simply because when they reach 1000 grams they hit a wall, stop feeding and stop growing.

Again there is no guarantee even if she is ready does not mean she will go that season that's why you should not put all your eggs in the same basket and should have more then one female to pair.

hey yeah i know there are no guarentees, and i am not placing all my bets on this girl, i was just wondering as she is the biggest female i have atm and there for thought that she could be the first ready for breeding.

oh i forgot to quote/reply to CryHavoc. well i was talking about the traditional breeding season, as to me it seems easier to handle else you have to controll the temp in each tub individually wich would make things a bit harder on me and i wanna breed them just for the fun and kicks


i am rebuilding my collection atm as i had some problems about 4 years ago and had to sell some and gave away most of my ball pythons to some guys wich i knew and i was certain they would take good care of them and i am still in contact with those guys

atm i have an female 2013 orange ghost 320 grams, female 2013 albino 450 grams and a female 2014 super fire 76 grams

and comming tuesday i'll be picking up a male+female 2014 pastel het. piebald from one of those guys i gave some of my ball pythons too when i had to.

[SlitherinSisters]

It definitely depends on the snake, but she would be about the right age and if you got her to pack on the grams it's possible. I've had some females wait 3-4 years before they would breed even though they were heavy enough. It's a headache sometimes!!!

[Tigerhawk]

Don't rush thing's, just take your time. She will be ready soon enough. Just enjoy your time with your snakes.

[Mike41793]

There's really no right size, it's when they decide they're ready, when they're mature. Can't rush them, they'll just do what they want anyways haha

[ARBallMorphs]

Ok thanks to you all.