Will they be ready to go next year

[Bcycling]

I have a few females I want to breed next year. They are currently about 750-800 grams. Is there a chance they will be ready next year? I am thinking it will be close.

[Mr. Misha]

I have a few females I want to breed next year. They are currently about 750-800 grams. Is there a chance they will be ready next year? I am thinking it will be close.

Depends on their feeding response and what weight you're willing to breed them at. Personally I'm waiting for my girl to hit 1800-2000 grams. Others, breed at a lower weight. How old are they?

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[Bcycling]

They are about 14 months right now. The bigger ones eat anything I give them. They all eat f/t and was feeding two weaned rats a week. I am getting a few of them to take small rats now and probably will be just doing one a week for these until they put a few more hundred grams on.

[rlditmars]

Most people will wait until the female is either going into her third winter, or is at least 1500 grams, whichever comes last. Your girls may reach size but many on here, including myself, have had females suddenly go off feed in and around the 1000 to 1100 gram mark. When that happens it's anyone's guess as to when they will go back on feed and then make size. I pretty much stick to the 1500 gram size for first time breeders.

Now if you have a female that hits 4 to 5 years of age, is eating as often as you can get her to and is still under 1500 grams, then you may want to give it a go. She certainly is old enough and sometimes the first breeding season makes them have a better feeding response and they start gaining size. Just expect a relatively small clutch as a small snake can't accommodate too many eggs.

Best of luck and hopefully your girls keep on eating for you.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

They may they may not no one know for sure.

They could hit the wall at a 1000 grams like some do and go off feed for a while, just like they might keep eating and put on 100 grams a month.

Breeding is about patience and having the right expectation, if it happens it happens if not there is always the following year.

[Bcycling]

Everyone seems to be saying what I thought. It's a possibility, but don't count on it. I will not breed them until they are a min of 1500 grams and look good and feel right. If one is long and thin she will wait. Here is the kicker, this is not really my project, it's a project my daughter is working on with my help. I told her some girls may be ready next year, but we will have to wait and see. We have a male on hunger strike right now, he is about 850-900 grams and went off feed for 9 weeks. Got him to take a small rat two weeks ago and he is again refusing to eat. These hunger strikes got me freaked out 25 years ago when I had balls and they are doing it again. How long have guys had the hunger strikes last?

[Mr. Misha]

How long have guys had the hunger strikes last?

My longest one so far was about 5 months and that was this year. I didn't worry too much because she was a solid weight. I kept weighing her every month and she didn't really loose a lot of weight during that time.

So if your snake goes off feed, make sure that you're weighing her about once a month.

[rlditmars]

How long have guys had the hunger strikes last?

We had one go 7 months last year before he went back on feed. It does get stressful. One thing to ease your stress and save on food is to only offer every two weeks. Once he takes two in a row then you can try going back to once a week.

It's great that you went back into this with your daughter. That is the exact same reason I went back to it as well. I used to keep snakes back in the 70's including a ball python. I took my daughter to a Repticon show and that was it. This year we produced four clutches but the one that was most special was my daughters YB to YB that she spent the last 4 years growing up. She hit two Ivories out of a 6 egg clutch. Best of luck to you both.

[Bcycling]

Yeah it is awsome to get into something like this with the daughter. She is in love, as I am sure a lot of girls who love snakes, with the BELs. I told her I was not buying one, so she is trying to produce one. If she gets one she will be so happy, although she is now looking at larger snakes. She would love a burm, and I used to have one, but I still think that is way to much snake for a kid. I think in a year or two maybe a retail, but who knows I guess