Reptile & Amphibian Forums

....I'm hoping to get input from the three of you (and anyone else for that matter). If you don't mind, What is the average & MIN. size of your breeders (M/F). I have a TYPE II Anery Male (Black Tail) & a Beautiful Het Type II anery Female. I would like to breed them this year, but only if they are of an adequate size. Any info would be a great help.

Thanks in advance,

Scott Dixon
Heartland Herps

I have a friend that bred his 6ft female this last season and produced 17 healthy babies from her. I believe her to be 3 or 4 years old though. Age is just as important as size. His other female unknown age is roughly 8-8.5 feet and she produced 43 healthy babies. His stripe male was one heck of a stud.

I forgot to mention in the first post that these are Nicaraguans. I'm looking for breeding sizes/ages for Nics.

Thanks again,

Scott Dixon
Heartland Herps

Hi Scott,
Nics can really vary in size as breeders. We have some that are 5 1/2 feet long and we have ONE that is really unusual at 6 1/2 feet. However, we also have females that breed successfully at 4 to 4 1/2 feet.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing is that they have the age!!!!!! I can't stress that enough. Normally, it would be ok to breed a good size Nic with good body weight at 3 years old. We don't breed females at 18 months!
But even though age is the most important, size should never be ignored... if we have a 3 year old female that is kind of wiry and doesn't have what we feel will be enough fat stores to get her through the breeding season and pregnancy, we won't even think of breeding her for another year. We have some females that we didn't breed until 5 years old because we felt that they didn't have enough weight to warrant breeding them. Nics can be small lengthwise, and they are never as thick as a Colombian, but you still want them to have good body weight to breed.
I hope this helps...sometimes I feel like I say alot but none of it makes sense! lol
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Amanda Burke
Email
Burke Reptiles Website

..Thanks for the post, That is good information. I'd rather you say to much than not enough!!

As for my Nics, they are both '04's and 45" in length. She has good body weight without being over weight, and he is at a healthy weight but not her size.

It sounds like, with a little more size, they may be able to go in '07?

I'll post pics when I get new batteries for the digital.

Thanks again for your input,

Scott Dixon
Heartland Herps

I agree with Amanda, and she gave great pointers. I also couldn't agree more with her point about size and age. I have had luck with Male Nics at about 24 inches, and they breed agressivly at that. Some will breed at 18 months, but you don't want to breed females at that age. I have also had good luck with females around the 4 foot range, but I personally would like them bigger. Some of them just take a LONG time to get that size. Some nics just won't get bigger then the 5 foot mark for me.

Nics also seem to court as strong as Columbians, but the females have a more rapid growth of Follicular development as I have tracked them with the Ultrasound. This is true even with Columbian/CA bloodlines. The females seem to grow eggs at a much quicker rate then the Columbians. Therefore the breeding season isn't as LONG.

Hope this helps. Take Care, Jeremy

...It does Help! Thanks for the great info AND your time! It's very generous of you (all) to share your knowlege and experience with others.

Thanks Again,

Scott Dixon
Heartland Herps