Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am told that breeding youg female balls when they are only 1000g you will get fewer eggs and stunt there future growth. Waiting an addictional 8 month to a year you will have a bigger snake that will be able to produce more eggs for you in the future. What do you all think about this?

Thanks Tom in NJ

In ball pythons sexual maturity is usually reached at around 500g or a year with males......usually at a minimum.....and females at about 1300g more or less & 2 years of age.

So with that said....yes some balls can and will reproduce at smaller sizes, but does that mean its healthy? Probably not.....Granted people breed 1000g females but if you look at clutch sizes & weights youll notice that the babies are usually smaller and there are fewer eggs.

Why would you want to breed a small 1000g female that you know will probably only give you 3 or 4 eggs as opposed to a female that weighs 2500g after 2 years of good growing that can give you 8-10 eggs, and be able to regain weight after the breeding season and gain more weight for the next year. I dont know if breeding a small snake will stunt its growth or future production.....but it would make sense that it could defineatly stress the snakes reproductive system at such a young age..or even cause worse problems health wise.

JMO,

JAred Horenstein

Jared, I agree with your theory, females bred at under 1500 grams will likely lays small clutches with small eggs and will probably need the following year off to recover from producing eggs at such a small size/young age. I don't think it is near as hard on the males to try breeding him as long as they are over 550 grams since they do not carry the eggs. I would assume that a small male will prefer to breed with a small number (1-3) of females that also are not real large (1500-2000 gram, and preferably close to 2 1/2 years old). Just my opinion also, Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles.