Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does the male always have to be smaller than the female when breeding? Almost all the lock up picks i see are little males with nice fat females.
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Adrian De Leon
Hissenia Reptiles

Females need to be bigger/older in order to breed and produce larger/fertile clutches most would say I think. I have a half-dozen smaller/younger males I am breeding this year. A couple are are captive-hatched and the others are known morphs. Many people will begin trying a young male at 500 grams and they figure it out sooner or later. Many breeders like to keep their older boys lean and mean (800-1000 grams) because they feel they will be better breeders(not fat and happy). I prefer my males on the large side. I feed them every week as my best 06's and 05 breeders are between 1200 and 1600 grams. Three of them are covering 10 or more girls this year and have shown no signs of stress or being lazy. Hope this helped.

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Bill Buchman

I think I saw you post that before, and said that you proved that male out. Just wondering if you had any pics of the offspring? I've been working on a project with a very similar male and am expecting my first clutch within the week from him bred to three of his 04 daughters. One of the daughters had a granite pattern but wasn't dark, another was dark but with a normal pattern.

I have proven him dominant and am pretty sure there will be a super. I will be posting some pics in the future -- but I am not sure when. His first clutch of 10 eggs bred to a normal produced 3.3 in his spitting image and look nothing like the normal sibs which looked totally -- normal. He is a monster at 1600 grams and an awesome breeder. I am covering 10-15 girls with him this season. Among those is a Pastel, 2 Yellow Bellies, a Het Albino (trying to take a shortcut) -- his pattern on an Albino -- FORGET ABOUT IT!!! And I am considering a Cinny later in the season. I am growing up his daughters to breed back to him late next season. I have a name for them, but want to see what he does with other different shades of normals (light and dark) and known morphs.

I think a conservative approach is better than just "throwing him out there" not having ANY idea what he does. I don't need to know if he is codominant yet, but would like to see (be able to show others) at least a little of his combination potential. I consider them both a color (the black is BLACK) and pattern morph. His pattern is wicked!!! They are one of those snakes you really have to see in person to fully appreciate. Their beauty is subtle in some respect. I have no idea what he will do with the Pastel -- might be ugly. But the Y.B. combo should be sexy I think. LOL. Sounds as though you are working with project that is possible recessive?
I hope you understand my not posting pics at this time. Better safe than sorry ...

Good luck with your clutches!!!
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Bill Buchman

Ralph has the only Granite Albino I have ever seen but was unable to prove it out . Hope you know something he doesn’t LOL. Good luck David

This is my female that will breed with my Albino 100het Jolliff snow male. I will bee putting them together this week. David ps and yes they will be a late clutch .

I have a female that looks a little like that one from what I can see, this is her first year breading so we will see if she is genetic. I thought she might be a funky black pastel from the head colors but who knows, thats why we breed em.

Great question.

Males reach sexual maturity at a much younger age, and therefore they tend to be much smaller when first bred. Females need to be at least 1200grams, most people would say 1500grams, to be good breeders. This might mean the female is 2-3plus years old as opposed to a male being 1- 1 1/2 when you see pics of them breeding. For this reason, many people will keep their females on a much more aggressive feed schedule. This will lead the females to be much bigger when you see them breeding.

NO

they do not HAVE to be smaller than the female....
the other people are all correct...
but you CAN breed a 3500 gram male to a 1200 gram female and it works the same.....

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