Posted by:
FR
at Tue Jan 29 10:09:44 2013 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by FR ]
The problem with your information, you know, weights like 120g. IS, its recipe, something you read not based on the actual animal. Or reptiles for that matter. Its about type of husbandry or an approach to husbandry.
That said, it does not mean that information has no value, its not about the reptile, its about KEEPERS and non flexible husbandry. Or the part folks get mad at me for saying, recipe husbandry.
This case is a good example. Again, You recipe folks, do not get mad at me, if your doing great, then be confident in that.
I feel its better to understand the animals, then you can make adjustments, instead of of following out of context information.
Its absolutely normal for females to reproduce at a small size, its a very important part of survival. With reptiles, there is no set size to successfully reproduce. There is a range of sizes. Normally reptiles can and do reproduce at half their average size. Which is very small.
In nature, the first year of life, in fact the first few months is key to reproductive size. Nutritional support in nature is a key variable. Some years theres plenty of support others years, No Support. And everything inbetween.
THe small females are very important in maintaining populations. They do not require lots of energy to reproduce, so they produce in years large females cannot. This is very important to understand, as there is REASON for this happening, its not an accident, its a design.
In captivity, rules are made based on CAPTIVE support, which may or may not be good. In this case, nesting. Poor nesting is particularly hard on small females. Poor nesting causes the females to hold the eggs longer and small females are more effected by dehydration(in most cases chronic)
So yes, in captivity, poor nesting causes small females a higher percentage of failure. But its not about the small female, its about poor nesting. Failure is very preventable.
As I mentioned, and get crap for, poor/marginal nesting is NORMAL in captivity, and worse with rack system mentality. If you want to discuss this great, but no yelling at me or making it about me.
If your going to offer poor nesting, then its best to not allow small females to reproduce. If you offer suitable nesting, then there is no problem allowing small females to reproduce. its that simple.
As mentioned, small females can grow to normal size.
Again, folks get real sensitive about this kind of stuff, but its not about you or I, for that matter, its about the animals. And its absolutely normal for small females to reproduce. The question is, why is it problematic in captivity, that is the discussion, not calling names because keepers think its about them, or they will be reflected in poor lite, or whatever. Cheers
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RE: Female bred at 120g-wont - FR, Tue Jan 29 10:09:44 2013