Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 290 gram female thayeri that I did not plan on breeding and therefore did not brumate. Do you think I can still breed here this season? I have the perfect male who was cooled and is ready for the ladies. But only if I can safely breed her. THanks for any help

Generally, my rule of thumb is the female should be 36 months old before attempting to breed.
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Dan
www.SerpentsOnline.com

n/m

I can't speak from personal experience, but looking below you have probably already seen a post by Rick Millspaugh stating his past success with breeding thayeri that weren't brumated. I've read a number of times about experienced breeders having similar good results with many different species of kingsnakes that weren't cooled and rested for any length of time. A lot of this information has been floating around in the main kingsnake forum that's pretty interesting. Browse around in there for a while and you might be surprised.

Sounds like your female has reasonably good size for a first attempt, I would say give her a chance if she is nice and healthy and has a good appetite. You shouldn't have to worry about her at all and you really don't have anything to loose. Chances are you will end up with some really fine thayeri babies.

Mike

Just curious why 36 months? Is this for size purposes or do you believe breeding to early will stunt her growth? Do you think egg binding will be a problem? just need some advice to help me make the right decision.

At 290 grams she's probably going to develop egg follicles no matter what. And she's plenty big enough. I'd say you have a bit less than 50% chance she going to develop GOOD eggs if she's bred. She may lay 6-10 eggs and only half of them will be good. I'm with Mike (mexicanamak). Try it you have nothing to loose. Good luck

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Vichris

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