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My first breeding season :)

Pinky gecko girl

Pinky gecko girl

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These are my ball pythons that I have to start breeding for my first season. I'm excited and have been dealing with herps for about 4 years. Here are my balls :)

1.0 2009 spider
0.3 2009 normals
1.0 2009 pastel
1.0 2010 yellowbelly
0.1 2010 normal
0.1 2010 spider
1.0 2011 spider het. Hypo
0.1 2011 pastel
0.1 2011 het hypo
1.0 2011 fire

So I think I will have a good first breeding season :) I'm wondering what grams is best for the females to start breeding? I know one of my normal females will be big enough. Let me know some tips on size I know the other 2 2009 females are about 1000grams.
 
If they are ready they will let you know I start around 1200g if they breed & get the feed bag on by the time they are ready to go off feed & lay eggs they will be 1700g to 2200g,if they arent ready they wont go.I have a 5 year old pastel female & her normal size is 1200g call her small boned if you like lol,she lays every year 4 or 5 small eggs.
 
GREGORY J HALL said:
If they are ready they will let you know I start around 1200g if they breed & get the feed bag on by the time they are ready to go off feed & lay eggs they will be 1700g to 2200g,if they arent ready they wont go.I have a 5 year old pastel female & her normal size is 1200g call her small boned if you like lol,she lays every year 4 or 5 small eggs.
Click to expand...

I guess it is all personal preference. I would never breed a "virgin" under 1500g.
I can see having a girl that you know has always been small and comfortably breeding her but not a virgin. I just don't see why to hurry it.
 
Its not just on preference, you may never get a mouse feeder over 1500 grams, I've had that problem in the past but lay just fine. I've had mousers that stay in the 1200-1400 gram range that won't go over. You just need to pay attention to your snakes and you will know if they are ready to breed or not.
 
If my girls were only 1000 grams at this time of the year I'd be waiting till next year.
Your girls have only put on 500 grams per year so far, 500 gram divided by 12 is only 40 some grams a month weight gain, at that rate it will probably take 6 months or more before they have enough weight to breed successfully.

I bred 2 virgin 18 month old females that threw 11 perfect eggs between them, they also weighed 1500+ and 1800+ grams.
 
snakesRkewl said:
If my girls were only 1000 grams at this time of the year I'd be waiting till next year.
Your girls have only put on 500 grams per year so far, 500 gram divided by 12 is only 40 some grams a month weight gain, at that rate it will probably take 6 months or more before they have enough weight to breed successfully.

I bred 2 virgin 18 month old females that threw 11 perfect eggs between them, they also weighed 1500+ and 1800+ grams.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
That's what I was trying to say...
More than likely you are going to know if they are just "mouse eaters" that just won't grow well. They will probably be a little older than 2-3 years old. I would definitely wait and at least attempt to put more weight on them. If they are still around this size next year, then you would have a better idea that they are just not going to get big.

I am guessing if you wait they will grow for you.
Good luck
 
I have a girl i just started pairing. When i got her in april she was 1200gs, now she pushing 1900, in 4 months, so u maybe able to get a late season. This is her first year as well and if she didnt get to atleast 1400 she wasnt gona breed this year, but i was aiming for 1500 for my own peace of mind. I just got lucky she blew past that. Good luck and remember its better for a girl to miss her first year than to miss the rest of her years.
 
3 med rats a week is quite a load for her, imo i would slow her down a bit, my girl gained weight like that just being fed a small or med once a week. Maybe twice.
 
how big do you consider a medium because at 1400 grams they shouldn't even be capable of eating 3 med a week and if so it has to be bad for her!
 
I bought them from mice direct as mediums. She has ate 2 on Friday and sunday I have fed her another f/t small rat. One time I had 4 small rats extra and she at all. She has grown 300+ grams since I bought her in August. It doesn't seem to even slow her down. I feed my other females what they want to eat. Never force it on them to eat more. That female just does not slow down. Lol
 
She posted rats, and i would highly discourage such feeding habits if so. Thats way too much for a snake that size. Its stressful for them to digest all that in one sitting. Also continuely feeding as such will likely result in dimishing her lifespan to lets say 10 to 15 years instead of 20 to 25. You can get away with balls alil bit with some heavy feeding, but with boas feeding like that will kill em off quick. Sometimes they want it but u just gotta tell them no once in a while. Fat will build up around there organs causing them to burn so much energy just to basically survive, ie breathing and circulating blood, theyll just burn out.
 
Yeah that's horrible for the health of the snake not to mention unheard of. I've never even had any of my snakes want that many (especially at that size). I had a female during her build up stage take two mediums in one week but that was a one time deal and when they come back on feed after laying they will eat multiple meals but never 3 in a week. Like Robert said if you want to kill a snake quick then continue with such a feeding schedule. Just like almost any animal in existence obesity is a bad thing and leads to a shortened life span.
 
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