Power feeding a male?

[eel88]

If you feed a small male that is a few months old every 5 days or so a smaller than the largest girth mouse until it is 400+ grams will it be healthy? Should i not do this? I found out yesterday my 1300+ gram normal rescue "male" is in fact a close to breeding size female! Yeah what a surprise. Im too scared to try and sex my snakes myself until i've seen it done in person a few times and to have someone there when i end up doing it for the first time so i had no idea. Anyway in the next month after i pay the rest of the pay plan i will get my little male spider. I was hoping the breed this up coming Feburary or so. Possible, pushing it, or maybe?

[LadyOhh]

I would say pushing it...


There is no guarantees that even when he gets that big that he will be producing sperm, which is the most important part of breeding.

[eel88]

I still think it would be worth a try. Only if it is safe to feed my spider that much if its risky ill just feed once a week and wait till the following season. But id like to start ASAP!

[frankykeno]

What's the rush? This breeding season, next breeding season? What's the huge rush to put weight on this male? If he's ready, if she's ready...they're ready. She's not even at 1,500 grams and that's also dependent on her length (1,500 is not the only number to worry about). Weight is only one of the determining factors anyways. Has this female finished her quarantine period? She's a rescue, is she eating well and in good health? Rescues often take awhile to get back up to speed.

Breeding isn't about rushing into things or trying to push snakes too fast just to hit a goal you have...no "ASAP!" about it, at least in my opinion.

[J.Vandegrift]

IMO size does not make a whole lot of differece when you are only going to be using him for 1 female. I think age is more important with males. How big and how old is this snake now? Feeding your snake a small meal every 5 days will not make him unhealthy. Is it possible for you to buy a late 06 male? Honestly, If it were me and he had good weight and was producing plugs I would probably give it a try. Oh, and feeding a small meal every 5 days is not "powerfeeding". Many people feed hatchlings every 5 days.

[CntrlF8]

probably a stupid question, but how do you check for plugs?

[dcgator24]

I've seen them with urates. They look like a yellow or white "Y" of sperm.

[rabernet]

What's the rush? This breeding season, next breeding season? What's the huge rush to put weight on this male? If he's ready, if she's ready...they're ready. She's not even at 1,500 grams and that's also dependent on her length (1,500 is not the only number to worry about). Weight is only one of the determining factors anyways. Has this female finished her quarantine period? She's a rescue, is she eating well and in good health? Rescues often take awhile to get back up to speed.

Breeding isn't about rushing into things or trying to push snakes too fast just to hit a goal you have...no "ASAP!" about it, at least in my opinion.

I agree, I don't understand what the rush is to breed this male? Or that female, for that matter. He'll also need to be in quarantine as well, when you bring him home.

I am going into my first breeding season this year. I have four females that I am hopeful will be ready. They're all over 1500 grams, but two are long and lean. If they don't "feel" right to me, they won't be bred this year, cutting my clutches in half. But I don't feel the need to push any of my snakes just because I want to breed them.