Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it just me, or is there alot of under-weight breeding going on?
This seems to go against all the advice of waiting till your females are over 1500 grams, and males over 1000 grams.
Is this healthy, or is it people just cant wait?
I could have bred this year, if I knew these light-weights would be OK to breed. As it is, I need to wait till next year.
Thanks,
Ken
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1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)
1.1 Argentine B/W Tegus (Draco and Drucilla)
0.1 Columbian B/W Tegu (Diablo)
1.0 Black Throat Monitor (Razor)
1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)
0.1 Feline (CK)
1.0 Memory of my Redtail Boa (Mo) which passed away after 28 years

www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

1200-1500 is the standard for a female.

As far as males go, they get it when they want it! No need to wait IMO. They know when they are ready.

I think there are a bunch of people who cannot wait either because they are too excited to get involved in the breeding experience or for the money.

Personally, 1500 grams for a female is a minimum for me.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I am pretty much sticking to the 1500 gram mark - my het albinos and het clown hovered between 1200-1300 but I decided to pass - would have been nice to have clowns this season but I thought it best to wait - I'm not in any hurry (that isn't self induced - LOL). Also they are young 04 and 05s - if they were older 4 or 5 years old and the same weight I probably would have been more inclined to try them this year.

This chart accompanies the ball python breeding DVD and is pretty handy at figuring out a good size for your ball to be.

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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 Lizard of unknown origin

Guess thats me this year. I have a lot of 03 females~ Some where at or over the 1500 grams and some where a little on the low side but close last October ~ so I went ahead and started cycling the males through them (the ones that were very low I did not cycle the males through). Most of them have bred~ but pretty much all of them have stopped feeding and not gained that last couple hundred grams I thought they would get to. I don't know if they will actually produce or not~ but I do have about ten 1200-1400 girls from 03' that have been with males this season. We'll see if they produce or not. I figure they are close to the weight~ they are good on age~ and if they don't have the resources to produce this year~ fine~ next year they will.
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

I would say that for a young snake I wouldn't pair them up under 1500 but I have 2 picky eaters that are 4 yrs old and both are due to lay in 10 days and 23 days. The smallest girl is 1250g, and the other is 1450g. My 18 month old girls that were paired up this year were 1500g, 1650g and 1900g. I have some others that are close but since they are only 18months I figure I might as well wait till next year.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

I had 3 or 4 04 girls that were 1500 and over and decided not to breed them. Mainly because I had way to many adult females (5 years and older, over 2500 grams each) for my male pastel. I think alot of guys are breeding there younger 1500 gram females just because THEY CAN. I probably did the right thing in waiting, bigger healthier clutch next season. Don't expect breeders to advertise that they are breeding young 1200 gram females.