Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can a experienced childrens breeder tell me, when a female is big enough to breed? i have a pair of childrens the male is a adult. The female is what im wondering about.She is smaller than the male, But she is still around 2' eatting one jumbo mouse a week. Is there a certain weight or something to go by? Im not sure of her age she was a pet store find.Personally i have kept her for a little over a year.Any help would be appreciated.
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kevin
36 pythons and boas and 4 lizards

I think the trouble with answering a breeding size question is the variety in the sizes of specimen of the species. I have a pair that are just over 2 ft and a pound each. The previous owners tried unsuccessfully to breed them from two to five years old. I got them and am waiting for my fourth clutch, fourth straight year. The parents put on a fair amount of size the first year with me and they were three or four that year. Go fig. I have seen Childrens that were nearly four feet long. So I couldn't tell you whether they would be ready to breed at what size. I think it would help to know age and parent's size.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

My female are as big around as my pointer and thumb touching. Not big at all. I had gotten them a bit smaller than this ant they were three years old. one of my female gave me 12 good eggs and other female of the same age and size that looks to be laying soon. I would say if you got them a year ago and they could already hadle an adult mouse than you might have snakes that are old engough to breed.

I waited until my female children's were 3 years of age to breed and have not had a problem breeding them since. They are all now around 3 ft, in length. One of my males is 15 yrs.old and still going strong. I feed them all thawed small rats. I am one my 4th clutch this year (Nov.06-June07). I had one clutch hatch out in Nov., another in I believe in mid-March, and had 2 more clutches laid this month. I let my females incubate their eggs and I continue to feed them while they are incubating the eggs. I mist them down lightly every 3 to 4 days so that they can drink the water droplets off their bodies.
---Just make sure your female has plenty of body weight going into the breeding season,and Mother Nature will take care of the rest.