Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have what i hope will be an easy question. I obtained a female ball python from a friend thatgot it from one of his friends. My question is that since the original owner has NO idea how old it is, therefore, neither do I, how do I know when it will be old enough to breed? At the moment, she is about 1200g empty. She is feeding on large FT rats weekly to every week and a half. She never misses a mean and would probably take more if i offered it. I don't want to give her too much to eat, but she always seems hungry. I got her about 6 months ago, and in that time frame, she has gained about 700 grams. She is a beast, am i feeding her too much? Does she seem on track for a female? Will she be ready this next year, or should i give her another year? Thanks for all replys.

Sean

my breeding criteria for females is roughly 1300-1500g depending on age and actual body appearance, meaning nice and plump not long and skinny. If the female is 1200g now and nice and plump then I'd say she should have no problem breeding in 5 months. I have a few females that are terrific eaters and are 05's that are in the 900g range and if they continue to pound med rats they will easily make 1500g and may be put into my breeding program. Alot of people stress making sure females are at least 2.5 yrs old before they breed for the first time and that is something to consider. But I also know of several breeders that have had females breed around 1 yr old and lay eggs before they were 18 months old, and they were good eggs. You must realize that when breeding young females you do run a slightly higher risk of having the female become egg bound and of them producing non-viable eggs. I hope this helps.
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Josh Hutto
J&K Reptiles

2.3 het pied (RDR, alan bosch x 2, BHB x 2)
1.0 Spider Ball python (Ballroom pythons south)
1.0 Vanilla Ball Python (Gulf Coast)
0.1 High Contrast Albino (Gulf Coast)
1.1 het albino (ben siegel, Gulf Coast)
1.2 het citrus ghost(Gulf Coast line)
1.0 citrus ghost (Gulf Coast line)
1.1 graz pastel female
Alot of normal BP females (some not so normal)
2 various corns
0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (alan bosch)
1.0 american pit bull terrier
1.1 taco dogs (ankle biters)
1.0 grey cat
0.1 columbian red-tail boa

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I am going under the impression that she is atleast 2 years old since I got her in February and the last owner said that she had her "atleast a year". SHe seems to have blown up in size since she went onto Rats. the last owner had her eating 2 mice a week, i tried that the first feeding, and she downed 6 mice at a go, so nect feeding, i bumped her to med rats, and the rest is history. At the rate she is going now, she should hit 1500 grams in a week or so. Thank you for the quick reply.

The general rule of thumb is to not allow a female to breed until she is 1500g. I've personally had females breed and lay eggs at 1150g.
The down size of using a small female is the small clutch of eggs she will lay.
Naturally, a larger female will lay a larger clutch of eggs.
Another train of thought is, allowing a smaller female to breed and lay, it will slow her growing cycle, and every clutch after the first one, will be fairly small.
So, with all that said, try to wait until your female is large enough to breed her safetly and get a nice size clutch from her.
Good luck.
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

Hey,

Billingsly gave you some good advice- probably not before 1500 grams. This being said however- she should probably get there by breeding season. Continue to feed her well. I wouldn't go much over that feeding schedule- although she may take more. People will always tell you not to "overfeed", but when pythons are no longer hungry, they will stop eating. Maybe she'll take 2 at one sitting?

Good luck,

Steve Harrison
J-ville, FL