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Small female breeding

sweetsnakes

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Just want some opinions from yall I picked up a pair of 100%het albinos from a kid that got em at a show then lost interest they are well fed and not abused but hekept them together and said he saw em breeding. I figured he saw em laying together and thought they were breeding. male is about 700 grams no biggie female is only about 900 heres where the problem starts. It was late when I go got em home and I only had the setup done for the female cause she was the only one I planned on buying so since he kept em together I kept em together for the night. today prepped up the males tub went to get him and sure enough pull out the tub and they are locked up tight. I txted the kid and he said theyve been locking up for the past couple months. Heres where I want some opinions shes still feeding good should I just pump the rats to her and keep rotating in the male, or pull the male and pump the food to her and see what happens I wouldnt breed a female that small but whats done is done where should I go from here. All opinions will be appreciated
 
Separate them immediately and hope she doesn't take. Meanwhile, feed her as much as you can.

Could she survive if she is gravid? Sure. But egg laying takes a toll and clutches can weigh several hundred grams. For a female that's already undersized, that can be drastic.
 
:iagree:

All you can really do now is give her as much food as she will take and hope for the best. So just relax and don't rush into feeling like this is the end of the world. Stranger things have happened in nature.

If it offers you any consolation, I had the exact same experience here recently, only mine was with corns. I purchased a small snow corn from a couple, who I later found out was housed with an adult male all her life. After having her around 2ish months she started looking gravid and went off feed. I thought I was nuts feeling eggs in her as small as she was. The night before she laid she was only 247 grams. After laying she was 180ish. She gave me 6 eggs, all of which are fertile and doing great. She went back on feed the day after laying is in excellent health!
 
Yea separate them and don't put them back together. Keep a close eye on the female. As far as feeding goes, feed her every 5 days. Does she show any signs?
 
The big breeders have been known to breed females at 1000 grams, I wouldn't advise it. There are lots of stories about females being egg bound but that doesn't really have a whole lot to do with their size(even though most people think it does). Smaller females lay smaller eggs and clutches, it happens all the time in the wild. I would pull the male from her and keep feeding her, if she goes she goes.
 
I've heard a lot of things when it comes to breeding small females. Most of the eggbound stories I've heard are with colubrids, though. Most of what I've heard with pythons is that the number in the clutch are fewer and the eggs produced are simply smaller than they should be if any are produced at all. I'm not condoning breeding young females at all but smaller (not necessarily young but under 1200 grams) girls can/do breed whether it's in Africa or in captivity and and it's not an automatic death sentence. Hopefully she'll avoid producing a clutch this year so you can get some weight on her and breed her at a healthier size.
 
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