Posted by:
StevePerry
at Fri Mar 23 20:22:14 2012 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by StevePerry ]
IMO 100 gram females are definitely too small to try and breed responsibly. However I have to agree with Gregg on his reasons for why. Egg binding is also a minimal concern for me.
Troy, I have bred MANY, very small colubrids over the years and a small female producing large eggs is definitely the exception and not the rule. Most small females have small eggs. I have read and listened to a lot of breeders talk about their keeping offspring from females based on the “genetic” link from the adults to the babies as far as egg size or egg count goes. I agree that some of it is genetic but not all. I keep corns babies that come from females that lay big eggs because big eggs produce big babies which eat better for me but I have bred a ton of small corns and they almost always give me small eggs. These same females that throw small eggs get big and lay big eggs. I will still breed a corn at a small size but it is because they are so easy to put weight back on and they don’t seem to have the same problems recovering that other species have. I also have a couple of small hogs that I decided to breed because I knew they were going to slug out if I didn’t and they have had no problems depositing eggs. These small female hogs also laid very small eggs that year. I wouldn’t do it again because miniature baby hogs can’t even handle a newborn mouse and feeding them mouse tails until they were big enough was a huge pain!
The reason I don’t breed small female hogs (and most other species) is because of the recovery period. You will put them back at least a full year and most likely more in their normal growth rate plus you run much greater risks.
I have had several egg bound females over the years and I cannot think of one that was with a small female.
The next time you have an egg bound animal try this. If you know she’s bound and not just taking a break, dip her head in the water dish and watch her take a huge drink. Leave her over night and simply take your eggs out of the laying box the next morning. I have done this at least a dozen times with corns but have never had an egg bound hog to try it on. If this doesn’t work then I get out the needle.
This is my opinion and is based only on my experience. I have produced thousands and thousands of eggs and babies over the years. My breeding females currently consist of 46 corn snakes, 14 milks, 5 kings, 26 Kenyan sand boas, 10 hognose and approx 10 other misc species.
-----
Steve Perry
North Idaho.
[ Hide Replies ]
|
RE: Breeding underweight females? - StevePerry, Fri Mar 23 20:22:14 2012 