Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just a simple question about breeding bloods. One of my females is about 2 and the other 2.5 years old. They are both about 10 - 11 pounds, and about 4 feet. Next breeding season, let if be beginning of next year, in 6-8 months, they will be about 3 and over 3 years old, and weight of about, hmm.., 13 - 14 pounds. Do you think it would be ok to breed them around February 07 ?

depends upon what you mean by "about". i can say that something 7 months old is "about" a year old but that wouldnt be true. besides, a lot of times people dont know the actual birth date of the animals so they just take a guess (and the guess is usually wrong). i mean you can always try to breed them but dont get your hopes up on having a successful clutch. if it were me i would wait another year before trying to breed that way the animals would definitely be over 3 years and not "about" 3 years. also, its impossible to correctly guess what weight they will be next year. for all you know they might go on a hunger strike of some sort and drop 4 or 5 lbs. or they might decide to eat you out of house and home and gain 7 or 8 lbs. btw, feeding a blood one appropriately sized rat every 2-3 weeks is just fine. they arent all that active so you dont want to create a fat blood. you definitely wont get a good clutch then.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas (normals)
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons (normals)
1.0 Dumeril's Boa (normal)
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python (normal)
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python (normal)
1.1 Surinam Redtail Boa (normal)
0.1 Roommate (sigh...okay, she has a corn snake)

Thanks for the info. When I said 'about' I meant plu/minus a couple months. Yep, I am aware of the fact that they might choose to go on hunger strike (like my 2 Dumeril's females now). I was just wondering at what size it would be safe to go ahead with breeding them, and if mine, despite the age but considering the size, would
fit the bill.
I have written to Dave Barker from VPI - he just emailed me and said they breed theirs at 9 - 10 pounds, so I guess this solves my question !

cheers !
Stan
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1.2 - Blood python
1.0 - Central Am. boa constrictor
2.2 - Dumeril's boa
1.2 - Kenyan sand boa
1.0 - Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
2.2 - Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 - Spotted python
1.1.14 Children's python
2.3 - Ball python
0.1 - Western hognose
0.1 - Sinaloan milksnake
1.1 - Mexican snapping turtle
0.2 - Common snapping turtle
0.0.1- Alligator snaping turtle
0.1 - New Guinea side-necked turtle