Hi Will, it appears to me that your thoughts are academic, that is, they have reason, but I have to ask what that reason is.

It appears you do not have an understanding of biology of snake reproduction. In order to reproduce, a female must have her ovaries enlarge, develop ovum, have that ovum drop out of the ovaries(to cycle) emit pheromones to attract a male, then copulate, have the ovum migrate into the oviducts(egg shell gland) and become fertilized. Most of that is done before a male becomes involved.

In Short, the female must be reproductively ready in order for copulation to have any effect.



Next is that making money thing, buy breeding them young, Well that's silly, In reality, when females reproduce at a small size, both in nature and in captivity, they produce fewer, normally smaller eggs. So actual greedy keepers are better off keeping them growing as fast as they can, so they produce more eggs and even multiclutch. But then that is also natural to the animals.

As Gregg mentioned, egg binding is due to poor husbandry. So I ask, instead of making the statement that people should not breed them young and small, wouldn't it be better to learn to support healthy egg deposition of all sized females and that is done with decent nesting. Wouldn't it be better to support what the animal does naturally. Then some attempt at manipulation. Best wishes

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