Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted last week about a female I want to breed that is slightly under weight. I was told that if I introduce her to a male she might start putting on weight. I did so and am fairly certain that they bred becouse there were blood streaks in her tub and the male accepted food when I removed him which is somthing he dousn't do this time of year. That is the back ground. My question is, do I now cycle her as normal or do I leave her be until I get weight on her. After her last shed about two weeks ago she wieghed 1140 grams.
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

np
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

You can keep cycling her for a bit, but if she doesn't start eating I woundn't push it. Sometimes breeding is less of a science and more of an art... Got to know "when to hold 'em and when to breed 'em" It's hard to say for sure without actually holding the animal in my hands.

Justin

If she is 1100 grams AND skinny, breeding her makes no sense. If she is small, 1100 grams, but fat, I would not do it, but that is up to you. I would feed her as much as she will eat though. My deal is 1400 minimum, and they must be fat. I have a HIGH end female that is over 2000 grams but still thin, and I will not breed her this year.

I have heard all kinds of numbers quoted on here as being ideal breeding weights for females.

In talking to a very experienced reptile vet acquaintance of mine, however, I am pretty convinced that you DO NOT want to breed a female under 1500g, even if she is nice and short and fat. What the vet told me was that a good friend of his had bred a female at ~1000g because he wanted a quicker turnaround on the morph (albino). For the short term, it worked: the breeder made his profit. In the long term however, the vet tells me that this female has never reached a very large size - so doesn't ever produce many eggs at one time, and only breeds successfully every other year or so at best. This was apparently done back when albinos were rare and extrememly expensive. Anyhow, he quoted me that specific example, and told me he has seen it repeated many other times by numerous other breeders. From what he tells me, nobody has ever been happy with the long term results. He relies on the 1500g mark as a BARE MINIMUM requirement for breeding, and I am inclined to agree with him.

Females typically reach ~1500g when they are about 3 years old. What you really should rely on here is not only the weight of the animal, but also her age. Sure, plenty of 2 year old females suddenly go off their feed in the winter, and we can assume that this means they are going through puberty. That doesn't mean that breeding them at this age and weight is a viable option. I can rattle off dozens of other species that are bred domestically where breeding a pubescent female will reap similar results; permanently stunted growth of the bred female, reduction in reproductive output (both short and long term), as well as numerous interrelated growth and metabolism problems stemming from the stunted growth.

I would say it isn't worth it. House your female as normal, watch for eggs, and hope that she waits until next year to breed for real.

Good luck!
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

she is short and fat, and gaining weight quickly. The original post was to see if she might be ready to breed this year (1400-1500 grams) and the advice i got from Tosha and some others was to introduce her and then she might fatten up quicker. A month before her last wieght of 1140 she was only 900 and had hovered there for about a year by feeding very sporadically. She is now feeding great. I believe that although I was told otherwise, she is a WC.
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

np
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!