How long to wait to breed after first breeding?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Consider this:

"The fact is that males will breed females in the wild regardless of their size, weight, age, etc. There is no harm in this, its doesn’t hurt the female at all. Her body knows if the timing is right and whether she can healthfully produce eggs. Thousands of years of self preservation instinct is way more reliable than your or my opinion on the topic. When hobbyists argue how young you can breed a female, they lack the knowledge that a female will likely bred nearly every year of their life in the wild. Pythons are not like mammals where an egg is released / fertilized (internally involuntary). A BP female’s body has to actively develop follicles for up to months prior to ovulation. The body can reverse this process at any time prior to ovulation with no harm. If a female begins to absorb her follicles, there is nothing that I as a breeder can do to change that."

https://jkrballstreetjournal.com/201...e-ball-python/

I know that article, and I know Justin personally, I think the difference between you and me is how I interpret that article based on my experience and not what I want to hear to justify what I want to do.

While I agree with this article this is also where COMMON SENSE and EXPERIENCE comes into play, I have no idea what YOUR experience is with breeding.

Sadly because it’s done in the wild or can be done does not mean it should be done in captivity or that it is it the best. In captivity with have an obligation toward those animals to give them OPTIMUM living and breeding conditions, that’s why we have quarantine, why people use an incubator, that’s why people pay attention to signs when pairing so they don’t over breed their animals (which can kill them), that’s why some people cut their eggs, that’s why people feed their animals the way they do. That’s why those animals live longer in captivity.

Without the common sense and experience you end up with people in a rush to breed a 800 grams female that’s a year old (because after all it’s done in the wild) sadly that does not benefit the animal that benefits the owners (well so they think because all they care about is a quick return on their money). Without common sense and experience you get people who buy a proven breeder bypass quarantine to pair that female immediately and end up losing their entire collection (after all no quarantine in the wild). I can tell you no REPUTABLE breeder would do either of those things.

You can ask any respectable breeder they will all tell you that they like their female to grow slow and with consistency, to be mature and big as possible before their first pairing, they also like for them to bounce back before pairing them again for a new season and will even refuse to breed them if they have not. Now there are female being bred small but again that’s based on experience and circumstances. (off topic)

Again big difference between what can be done because it happens in the wild and what should be done in captivity.