I have heard all kinds of numbers quoted on here as being ideal breeding weights for females.

In talking to a very experienced reptile vet acquaintance of mine, however, I am pretty convinced that you DO NOT want to breed a female under 1500g, even if she is nice and short and fat. What the vet told me was that a good friend of his had bred a female at ~1000g because he wanted a quicker turnaround on the morph (albino). For the short term, it worked: the breeder made his profit. In the long term however, the vet tells me that this female has never reached a very large size - so doesn't ever produce many eggs at one time, and only breeds successfully every other year or so at best. This was apparently done back when albinos were rare and extrememly expensive. Anyhow, he quoted me that specific example, and told me he has seen it repeated many other times by numerous other breeders. From what he tells me, nobody has ever been happy with the long term results. He relies on the 1500g mark as a BARE MINIMUM requirement for breeding, and I am inclined to agree with him.

Females typically reach ~1500g when they are about 3 years old. What you really should rely on here is not only the weight of the animal, but also her age. Sure, plenty of 2 year old females suddenly go off their feed in the winter, and we can assume that this means they are going through puberty. That doesn't mean that breeding them at this age and weight is a viable option. I can rattle off dozens of other species that are bred domestically where breeding a pubescent female will reap similar results; permanently stunted growth of the bred female, reduction in reproductive output (both short and long term), as well as numerous interrelated growth and metabolism problems stemming from the stunted growth.

I would say it isn't worth it. House your female as normal, watch for eggs, and hope that she waits until next year to breed for real.

Good luck!
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons



0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

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