Hi Amie,

It is true that Nics are smaller than what most people are used to when they breed. However, if she were my boa, I would wait at least another year until breeding her. Pregnancy can be very stressful on females and most don't eat during that time so it's important that females have enough fat stores going into the season to get them through breeding and pregnancy. Based on those pictures (especially the comparison shot) she doesn't have enough body mass to breed yet IMO. Aside from the possiblity of her not eating all season, I also worry that a female that thin might have a difficult time giving birth (or passing slugs if there are any). If she is old enough, she might produce follicles anyway, but I wouldn't encourage it! lol I know that people like to know a general weight range that is good for breeding, but I like to look at each animal as an individual and make the determination that way. That leaves a lot of room for judgment, but I've seen a great variation in sizes of adult Nics and I think that looking at them individually works best for us. In general, I prefer to play it on the safe side when there is a question because it can never hurt to give them an extra year of food and growth! We've had many Nics that we didn't end up breeding until 4-5 years old because even though they had stopped growing length-wise, we wanted them to thicken up before we bred them. I hope this helps!

Amanda


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Amanda Burke

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