Posted by:
brhaco
at Fri May 25 21:01:21 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by brhaco ]
No offense taken-but it's obvious from the pic that the snake is NOT underweight (and remember, I advised that he put the two together IF that animal was the female). And your assumption that she will be discouraged from breeding by withholding access to a male is erroneous. If she has sufficient stores to produce eggs, she probably will. And if she does, without access to a male, then disaster could result. The reproductive drive is a matter of life and death to snakes, in fact scarcely less so than the food drive, and a ripe wild female will seldom or never NOT have access to a willing male. You deprive her of one in captivity at both of your peril (especially hers).
You mentioned cases you have observed in which underweight females have been bred and died subsequently. I find that curious-in 30 years of snake breeding, and watching others in the same activity, I don't recall ever seeing a sure case of that. What I HAVE seen is many cases of herpers failing to adequately SUPPORT their animals nutritionally both before and after mating. There is so much talk about the "refusal to feed" of gravid females that those less experienced often feel justified in withholding all food to gravid females, or prematurely withdrawing food. Many females will indeed refuse normal sized meals soon after becoming gravid. It's up to the keeper to provide smaller meals (in both size and quantity) at this time, in order to nutritionally support their animals without overtaxing their digestive system or interfering with egg development. My females typically continue feeding up to a week or two before deposition.
A female who is truly undernourished and not ready for breeding will simply not breed. Don't try to second guess nature-feed your animals well and intelligently, and put them together.
Brad Chambers
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RE: Breeding size - brhaco, Fri May 25 21:01:21 2007