I believe that age is more of a factor than size. Although females must be big enough to produce viable eggs.

Females are usually ready to breed their 3rd winter which makes them two and a half years old. Their weight should be 1500 grams or greater and they should have sufficient fat reserves in order to get the job done. Females should neither be too fat or too thin. Just somewhere in between. If a female is over 3 years old and carries good weight for her length but is still under the 1500 gram mark, I would not hesitate to breed her.

Males can breed sooner with the general rule of thumb around 18 months. They can also breed at much smaller weights. I have personally bred males at just over 500 grams with great success. Some say that fat males are not good breeders, but my experience has not shown this. I have both males that are great feeders and bad feeders and have had good breeding success with both.

Good luck!

MJ

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• Breeding Size - kameron, Mon Dec 1 22:36:01 2003
• RE: Breeding Size - Markus Jayne, Tue Dec 2 09:39:38 2003