Opinions on breeding young / small females

[Bruceweb]

I bred 4 females at 1300g..to date the only one that is gravid is my pied..she is sitting at 1700g, nothing appears to have happened with the others..would I try again at this size..probably not as all the females stopped feeding & It was causing me concern..tbh was really glad nothing came of it..delighted with the pied mind you, I had given up on her but she was niggling away at me as she was getting larger..she has now ovulated..fingers crossed for healthy eggs.

[KingPythons]

this thread lasted long! geeeezzz well anyways just thought id let you guys know im breeding my 1200 gram girl to my YB. Close to 2nd winter but she just has been acting funny so I threw the male in there and they been at it ever since. Needless to say she started eating again dont know if thats a good thing since she had a funny eating pattern after her first winter. Keep you updated

[shakyhand]

I kind of agree that larger snakes yield bigger clutch of eggs. I was on my first season breeding ball too. Got 2 pastels female and both are virgins but over 2 years old.

The 1800g gave me 9 eggs with great odd... 3 superpastels, 5 pastels and 1 normal...

The 1300g gave me only 4 eggs (large eggs).. 2 bumblebee and 2 pastels...

[Wildman09]

I think 1200 is the MINIMUM, but I'm more towards 1400+, I currently have 2 pairs going, one of which have already locked up. The female is over 1600 grams, she is Proven and laid I believe 6 eggs last season. I'm only expecting 6-8, maybe less. I have one female Over 2400grams, thats a VIRGIN!!!...I'm hoping to get a Nice big pile of Pearly Whites from her. My other females are right around or the 1500 gram mark...Like most have said here, the bigger the female, the greater the amount of eggs can be produced.

So, yeah..Right now all of my females are over the 1500g mark...I rather have a bigger clutch, keep the mother Healthy, and not risk anything bad to happen to her or the clutch...


Good Luck with what ever you do. And, Good Luck this season!!!!

[j_h_smith]

I was at the MARS Expo this month and I couldn't believe the number of FEMALE ball Pythons that were being sold as PROVEN BREEDERS and they were in the 800-1000 gram range. I just walked away chuckling when I would see one.

But I do agree with the 1200 gram minimum.

Jim Smith

[Wildman09]

^^That MIGHT be true as far as Proven breeders, they might have Just laid a few weeks prior...They will lose quite a bit of weight, but I'd ask for paper work or weights before being gravid, just as a precaution...But that also means they were probably bred at a small weight...

[jplehmann]

I know Adam's probably not around to answer this, but someone else can perhaps clarify #3 and #4 of this much read testimony:

Here's my experience with breeding younger/smaller females over the last 10+ years ... I've given this spiel a few times before, so it might be redundant for a lot of you guys.

3. Just about every single one of my girls lay a number of eggs equivalent to the 1/3 of their body weight divided by 100 rule ... ie a 1500 gram female will lay 5 eggs, a 1000 gram female will lay 3 - 4 eggs ... give or take.

4. Females bred at under 1500 grams or younger than their third winter will have smaller clutches and generally never produce more than 4 - 6 viable eggs a clutch no matter how large they grow later in life ... for example, in 1998 I bred a 1200 gram female het albino in her second winter ... she laid 4 eggs and produced 1 albino ... she's now over 3500 grams and still only lays about 6 viable eggs a year while other 3500 gram girls that I have that were bred for the first time at 1500 grams and over lay 10 and even 12 egg clutches for me.

Have I seen any negative impacts to the health of a female ball python by breeding her young or attempting to breed her young? ... Absolutely not ...

-adam

#3 suggests that as females grow larger they tend to produce larger clutch sizes. I've heard that from others too.

#4 however, if I am interpreting it correctly, says that in Adam's experience, not only do females bred early produce smaller clutches that year, but they also tend to produce smaller clutches throughout their lifetime ("no matter how large they grow later in life"). This sounds like causation, ie, as if it stunts their capability . He's either saying that, OR, he's saying that of the small females given the chance to breed, the ones who do breed tend to always produce small clutches -- AKA correlation. And if causation, it would seem that breeding them young is in some way impacting one aspect of their health.

Can someone interpret?

[Albert Clark]

Yes it is.

Hey listen, no one person knows everything but we all know something. Especially as it pertains to bps. We all can use help and information for ourselves and for those who are too afraid to ask. Peace.

[ARBallMorphs]

hey,

since this thread was brought up again i thought lets post my question in here.

I have a 2014 Lesser Pastel female that at the moment weighs +/-1200 empty and she never skipped a meal (only when she was in shed cause i don't offer food when they are in shed) and if she keeps eating she is gonna be 1500 grams easy at the end of this year but it is gonna be only her 2nd winter.

now i have to admit i didn't read everything in this thread but i have read a lot about that a female should be 1500 grams or more but also read about it being their 3rd winter before introducing males.

so now my question what would you do if it is only the 2nd winter but the female is 1500+ grams? would you try it and see if she goes or wait another year?

I do like to think i know my snakes and i think it would be save with her to try it but i do have no experience with breeding that is why i wanted to ask the people out here.

thanks,

Andrew

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

Its a 50/50 shot. All my two year old females proved that out for me last season. Half of them went and half didn't.

Just be sure if you pair her, that the fact she absorbs follicles and has retained sperm does not ruin plans for her next season when you might have a higher powered male for her.