Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When buying a male, at what age/weight do you feel you reach a point of diminishing returns to pay more to get a larger animal? I understand it may be worth it for someone to pay more to get a 1200 gram male as opposed to the 400gram one, and the 1200gram boy should be a more prolific breeder. Once you get up over 1200 to 1500 grams, I wonder really if it is worth that much more at this point? It certainly isnt a exponential factor where you see a 1200gram male selling for much, much more than one half the size.

A female, of course, because she will throw more eggs, but the male not so much I dont think.

Anything older than 2 years and heavier than 1000 grams is icing on the cake -- but should not cost much more. That being said, many of my best breeders are approaching 2000 grams and are not thin. I love a BIG breeder male!!
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Bill Buchman

The good news is that some people just like big snakes -- to them the bigger male would be worth it. IDK - all things considered a bigger breeder male may be indicative of some good genes -- size wise, maybe feeding wise -- as well.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

tosha took the words out of my mouth, so to speak. bigger, stronger male = bigger stronger offspring. in the wild, a bigger snake has better self defense, and bigger prey selection. the bigger the better. from a value standpoint, id say they are worth more, but not to the scale a female would be of course.

I am not so sure a male that is 2000grams will neccesarily produce babies that are any bigger or better eaters than a 1250gram male? If I have the choice between buying (lets just randomly say) a 1250gram Albino male for $850 or a 2000gram male for $1400, I do not feel the difference is worth the price. A female would be however.

well, the babies would not be born bigger, but wouldnt they tend to grow into larger adults? male and female. and youre right, that much of a price difference would be far too much. but 50 or 150 bucks might be worth it.

I think if you have a male and he is a real whopper like 4000 or 5000 grams, you might be able to say he is genetically disposed to pass along large size to hiss offspring. Any random 2000gram male is no more likely to have big offspring than any 1200gram one would.

I guess if you are planning on breeding the male to 20 females that year is might be worth the cash, but most folks are not really planning to breed a male that much. Besides, I have had 400 gram males that have been gangbusters with the women.

I like my males big, the bigger the better...when I bred normal balls...hahahahaha yea ok....my three males were all over 5 foot and BIG and heavy,,,,

$$$...you want to save money...buy baby....raise it yourself...buy 2 and sell one later at 1200 grams ?

Love...raise the kids to know them, they know you, you like them more.....I have more problems the older they are when I get them....I prefer just shed and ate once babies...the sooner they come here thwe better...the best are born here......when I buy anything older than a year...they usually suck...stop eating, hate me....just act weird.........

....my 3 pennies....

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JY
Scales-N-Tails
reptiles ltd.