Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have seen references to a wide spectrum of acceptable breeding sizes for females in this, and other, forums. Most agree that 1600g or larger is ideal. Would like to hear examples of experience with females in the 1300g range that are eating heavily and still growing. For example, is it ok to breed with the expectation that they will beef up more before laying, or should one wait to breed later in the year before introducing males? Thanks for the input.

I have always done great with 1000-1200 gram girls producing well. They will breed and then when they want to develope folicles they will eat well and gain a few hundred grams. After laying eggs they come back online fast too and eat great getting back up to size for the next season. Bigger females are most often more riggid in their cycle. They have done it before and want to stay on a schedule. The younger ones are more maleable to your schedule and I have found that with the first time girls even if they are small, the clutches are just as good numbers wise as larger girls. Clutch size is absolutely genetic and has little to nothing to do with gram weight.

" Clutch size is absolutely genetic and has little to nothing to do with gram weight."

The more I hear and read, the more I agree with this. But there is something to be said about healthy egg:slug ratio and how that relates to gram a weight:length ratio. I think it would be nice to develop a type of "robustness index" for females as a decision making tool for breeders. There is already such an equation for snakes in general, but it is a large, cumbersome equation and has little to do with breeding.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

My experience has been that if a female is still eating this time of year and is at or around 1200g they can be bred and are usually at or above the 1500g mark by the time they lay.

I haven't had experience breeding anything under 1200g but have heard of 900g females producing viable clutches...whether that was season start weight or lay weight I don't know.

Hope that helps

>>I have seen references to a wide spectrum of acceptable breeding sizes for females in this, and other, forums. Most agree that 1600g or larger is ideal. Would like to hear examples of experience with females in the 1300g range that are eating heavily and still growing. For example, is it ok to breed with the expectation that they will beef up more before laying, or should one wait to breed later in the year before introducing males? Thanks for the input.
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John Dague
JD Constriction
www.jdconstriction.com

I had a couple 2 year old 1200 gram girls lay last year. Small 4 egg clutches compared to my bigger girls who routinely lay 8 egg clutches.

Jason