Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys i am going to try and breed this season for the first time. I have been reading a bunch of different sites about how to breed and what not and i notice alot say to make sure you plump up the females some. But im not really sure how to notice if a snake is plump, fat or skinny. Is this something that is trial and error and you learn as you go or is there some form of length-weight correlation as a general rule of thumb. Sorry if this has been answered before but i havent found any info regarding my question.

Thanks
Ryan

Feed her an appropriately sized meal about every 7-10 days and you should be good to go.

Usually, I place her on the floor and you can see down by the tail area if shes getting a little plump. BP's sorta have their own little love handles in that area.

~Alan

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 ages but it is not recommended cases of males bred to death are not unheard of.
-----
Deborah

Thanks for the replies. I understand that there is a rule of thumb for the general weight of the snake when breeding. But if there was a female that was 2 feet long and weighed 1500 grams would that be considered okay to breed or would it be presumed to be bigger than optimal for breeding

There is no way a 2-foot female would be 1500g -- she would be extremely obese.

Age also matters, the female should be 2 years old at minimum, 3 preferred. Breeding any younger than that risks injury and death -- it would be like a 12-year-old human girl having a baby. Just because she can, doesn't mean she should -- and there are MANY risks involved.
-----
~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Yes i understand i was just using it as an extreme example. Thanks for the info guys. i hope im not being to much a newbie here. lol. i try to find out the info before asking the question becuase im sure its been beat to death before me.

Ryan

This is what I have been saying for 10 years on this website.
How often do you hear how much a dog needs to weigh to breed, how about a elephant, or like said, how about a human? It does NOT happen.
It is all about age. If fed properly any animal (snakes, humans, dogs, birds, whatever) will be a healthy weight. Sexual maturity is age......period. I know this does not so much apply to this thread, but go down just a few where again it is asked how much something needs to weigh.
I appreciate the fact that people are asking, this tells me they care about the snakes, but it is just from the wrong perspective.
There is more to breeding than the act of intercourse no matter what type of animal we are talking about. A new born (anything) can do the act, but the age is not there so therefore it cannot, will not, and is impossible to breed.
-----
Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Well obviously people are getting the wrong impressions somewhere. And by people i mean a lot of people, so maybe on ball python care sheets breeders need to start stressing the age issues rather than just giving approximate weights.....I think were just getting a little confused. Thanks for the help.

If it is the case this is unhealthy weight and probably an animal that has been power-fed.

You want to breed do it right it is not a race to get an animal as big as possible as fast as possible. Breeding takes time and patience is the key.

Like I mentioned previously you want your female to be in their 3rd winter, 1500 grams and 500 grams / foot which is an healthy weight.

750 grams per foot is not healthy.
-----
Deborah

I understand that 750g per foot is very unhealthy. i do not have a ball like that, i was just using it as an extreme example. All i really wanted to understand is what is considered plump when getting ready to breed. Thanks for the replies guys.

Ryan