Reptile & Amphibian Forums

why do so many people keep there males smaller than females?

Is it not healthy to feed a male as much as a female, as they are growing up i mean, not once the female has surpassed him in size at a later age?

I know that females are almost always larger as adults, but i see small males that at their age should be much larger, i just don't understand. Is it to save space? If so isn't that hurting their health if they arent able to eat normally?

Im just curious, please enlighten me!
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"If you talk to animals,
they will talk with you
and you will know each other.

If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them,
and what you do not know
you will fear.

What one fears,
one destroys."
.

-Chief Dan George

most believe a larger fat male may be a lazy breeder or not breed at all.
People claim to have more success with a young and lean male at breeding season.
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www.BetterBoa.com

9.7 BCIs
4.5 Corn snakes

"I know that females are almost always larger as adults, but i see small males that at their age should be much larger"

In truth -- I believe that about 90% of captive Boas are too large for their age, but we all feed on a schedule to get them to breeding size . A wild Boa is lucky to get 15 meals per year , and yet they are a smaller, leaner,and hardier Boa . It is true that females grow larger than males on average. Males also mature sexually earlier than females. Well ,maybe not earlier (I'm not positive), but they don't need the large size like a female does, so they can breed sooner. It is my guess , and opinion that the slow grown smaller males are the healthier of the two comparisons.
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Snake room janitor

Most of my breeding experience is with BCC. All the litters I have produced were with big strong males that weighed approx. 50% of that of the female and were around 6ft long. The males were 10 plus or minus lbs and the females were 20 plus or minus lbs. When they are less than a year or two old, I feed them the same as the females, which is frequent small meals. I would not hold back nutrition to my kids in their developing years so I do not with my snakes. When the females start naturally pulling away in size I may end up feeding the males less put I pump them up before breeding just like the females. When they are big and strong, they have enough reserves to last the three straight months I have them in with the females and produce enough sperm to get the job done. They are not fat but muscular. I have sold these proven breeder males to others and they have produced viable litters for them when they had never been able to produce a litter of BCC before. All of these breeders I am talking about were only on their 5th year of life when they produced the first time. Yes, they are probably not that big that soon in the wild and if they are soft and fat (which my never are as they have plenty of cage space to crawl and climb), I am sure that is not healthy, but if I want BCC to successfully breed, I must feed.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/listing/user/peakfarmer

I feed my males and females the same amount as they are growing up til about 2 2 1/2. and then I do start giving the females larger meals as they surpass the males size. not one of my boas is squishy and over weight. they all have great muscle mass.

I was just curious of how others felt. and I figured I would get mixed opinions. Which is good because different stragtegies work and i like to hear of the successful strategies on breeding.
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"If you talk to animals,
they will talk with you
and you will know each other.

If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them,
and what you do not know
you will fear.

What one fears,
one destroys."
.

-Chief Dan George