Just working towards clarity Frank. Not sniping at you.

Relative to your post there is a concept called resource allocation where under differing conditions an organism may choose to produce fewer more quality offspring over a larger quantity. In the end recruitment is the measure of success but nature does demonstrate different paths to the same end.

In captivity much the same can be seen. I once received a collection of coastal plains milk snakes. One female was VERY well supported and she laid a clutch of 16 eggs. The neonates were small and a complete pain to start. In subsequent years she was less well supported and threw clutches of about 8. Those neonates were more robust and much easier to start. A plus in this instance.

I think the prime indicator in captivity is body weight. If you support very well but don't provide condition for the support to be outputted as reproductive effort you end up with fat snakes. If you support for lower production but provide conditions where most of the input is being utilized for metabolism you end up with an animal that is too thin and will not breed. In the end its a balance. I don' think there is a right or wrong to maximizing production or limiting it as long as the animals in our charge maintain relative healthy weights.
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