Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what is the breeding age for mall bps? for females?

Usually its more about the weights and not the age.....Female balls are usually best when breed around 1500 grams or more, while males have been known to breed at around 300 grams. Its usually best to give females a couple years to get to this weight before breeding, however males can start breeding at around 7 months of age if they are producing sperm plugs. Hope this helps.

how can you tell if they produce sperm plugs? sorry if thats a newbie question

Usually you can find them in the shed around the area of the clocoa(anal region)Also they soemtimes leave them around the cage. Little deposits.

this was your first line:
"Usually its more about the weights and not the age".
So you are telling me that IF one is to get a female to 1500 grams it would breed and age is not a factor?
Age is everything to do with it and weight plays a small part in it. Sexual maturity is age not weight. I have never heard someone say a snake reaches sexual maturity at "X" weight, but I have heard pleanty of people say a snake reaches sexual maturity at "X" age. I DO agree that 1500 grams is a good rule of thumb, but that is just to get good healthy eggs, good number of them, and insure the female is at a good weight so as it goes off feed it will be ok through the breeding process. I other words, weight is in addition to age, but not the deciding factor.
THis is what I wrote just a couple days ago, when yet again, this same question was asked.....which was only a couple days since the time before that when it was asked.
Copied and pasted right from the post.

It is more than just weight, it is sexual maturity/age. You could have a 3 month old ball that weighs 900 grams and it will not breed.
I promise snakes in the wild do not get as big (as often anyway) as those that are in captivity. In captivity they get a regualr diet where as in the wild they can go longer at times without even seeing a meal.
Have you all not noticed on tv shows how 'adult' snakes are so much thinner, as a rule of thumb, than those we see in our collections.
Now with all that said, weight does matter in the sense that you do not want one that is too small to handle a big female or be intimidated by her.
Be good and best of luck with your projects!
here is the link to the above post that is still on page on of this very page/forum.
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1357863,1358192

A 3 month old at 100 grams could do the act of 'breeding', the question is would it "take"? The answer is no. Look at dogs, and yes I have bread them as well, do you ever hear anyone ask how much a female has to weigh in order to breed? No, you hear all about age. Why are snakes so different? I think everyone is in a big hurry to make a buck OR to experience the act of reproducing snakes.

We need to think about what is best for the animal, in this case, snakes. You can breed all you want and POSSIBLY lose the female you just bred. Now you are out the money you would get form the babies AND also out the origianl investment of the female.
What are the chances of a snake dying due to early attempts at reproduction? I do not know. I am not willing to try it and lose the money I invested OR the life of the animal I bought because I liked it.

Now on the original question about false information. No I do not think they gave wrong information, I do think that we all learn more about all this as time goes on.

Best to all!
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Woooooo settle down this is a forum right.....where people ask questions, they are not forcing you to answer them so if you dont want to answer then dont bother. And i know wieght isnt the only factor but if you have a 4 year old female ball python and she is around 900 grams are you going to breed her.....probably not because she is not at a heaklthy weight this is what i meant about waiting until the animal was at a healthy weight. Please dont act like its such a hassle to answer questions if you are going to answerr them someone else can give a perfectly good answer so you donthave to waste your time.

I never suggested it was a waste of my time. If it was, I would not be here, trust me.
I am merely responding to your statement. You said that "usually it is more about weight than age"....I simply disagree.
Nothing personal.
Be good!
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

"THis is what I wrote just a couple days ago, when yet again, this same question was asked....."

no you merly Implied it was a watse of your time........

Have a nice day!

I don't see where you think that Brian implied it was a waste of time. Don't you think if it was a a waste of his time he never would have replied? I am sure he has other things he could do besides this, but he decided to help somebody out by giving them info. I would agree with what Brian is saying. I think age is more of a factor than weight, but don't get me wrong, weight is a very important part of all this. If I had a female that was 1500 grams in the first year and a half, I would wait on breeding her for at least another year because I feel she would need more time to reach sexual maturity. That's just my 2 cents though.

Actually this would be where I was impying that people do not do any research.
I am happy to answer the question, like I did, but since you know my inentions better than I do.......
You all take things way to personally. You tell me to relax, I am not the one upset here. I try to give information that might be helpful OR give my perspective on things.
I will have a nice day, you too.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Are you getting irritated with me, becuase I was just backing you up there?

No he was writing in response to my post just before your backing him up. I'm sorry Brian I must have misunderstood what you were trying to say. I just took your words the wrong way. My mistake.

ages are male 2yr. female 2.5-3yr. David of DS Reptile Rescue

It not as much about weight than it is about proper size

Optimal conditions for healthier bigger clutches are

Females should be at least 1500 grams 500 grams per foot and preferably in their 3rd winter

Males 700/800 grams

Yes they can physically breed at a younger age but it is not recommended cases of males bred to death are not unheard of.
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Deborah