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I was just curious if a 3000 gram female is more likely to produce more eggs then a 1700g female or if it was strictly a genetic thing. Of my 6 females, 3 or 4 of them (all normals) will probably be in the 1500 gram range. I found a 3000 gram normal female for sale and was thinking about selling one of my small females and buying the 3000g girl. What are your experiences on this? Thanks for any advice!

From what I know. A bigger girl in her prime will produce the most eggs. Weight does have an issue with the quantity. But when the snake gets older it will start producing less eggs. So depending on her age she could definitely produce more eggs with her higher weight.

Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.0 Honeybee
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids (9) and (16)
0.1 Spouse (22 Years Married)
1.0 Chocolate Lab

Bigger girls can definetely give you larger clutches. I have a 6000 gram girl who has laid 17 eggs and i know she is old, not sure how old. My friend has a 5000 gram girl, 15 years old and she still lays 15 to 17 eggs. I have also had small girls lay larger numbers of small eggs, but on average the bigger girls with the proper weight, can give you larger clutches.

If you dont know the guy I would definately ask why he is selling what seems to be a pretty good sized girl. Maybe its all on the up and up or maybe he is selling her because for some reason or another she does not produce big clutches.. I can only say I need to feed my girls more this year and try to push them all up to 4000 to 6000 grams over the next year or two, I need some of those 15 and 17 egg clutches...lol. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Jay
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JEM from sunny AZ.

3.25 Normals
3.10 Pastels
1.0 Super Pastels(Thanks Dan Wolf for the best looking Super male I have ever seen)
2.7 Normal Spiders
1.1 Spiders 100% het Ghost(thanks Mark Petros)
0.2 Spiders 66% het Ghost(Thanks Steve Beamer)
1.3 Orange/Butterscotch Ghosts(BallPython777 Mark Petros)
0.6 100% het Orange Ghosts
0.3 66% het Orange Ghosts(should prove this year)
0.1 Pastel Ghost
1.0 Citrus Ghost(courtesy of Josh Hutto)
0.1 Super Pastel 100% het Ghost
2.3 Albinos
1.1 Caramel Albinos
0.1 100% het Caramel Albino
0.4 100% het for Albino
0.5 66% het for Albino(should prove this year)
0.7 Yellow Bellies
1.0 Pastel Yellow Belly
1.2 Ivories
1.2 100% het for Clowns(Mark Petros)
1.6 Cinnamons(Thanks Stan Ruppel)
1.0 Pied
1.4 100% het for Pied(Josh Hutto and Paul the Pied Peddler)
0.5 66% het for Pied(should prove out next year with my visual male Pied)
1.5 Mojaves
0.1 Pastave het Ghost
1.1 Beautiful Black Pastels(thanks Gulf Coast Reptiles)
1.2 BumbleBees(thanks for the AWESOME Bees Marc Bailey)
1.1 Pewters(Myself and Scott Priester of Brookside Reptiles)
0.1 Chocolates(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.3 Lessers(Josh Hutto)
3.2 Fire's(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.2 High White Calico's(Thanks Brent from BRB)
1.1 SpotNoses(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Enchi's (Me and Josh Hutto, Thanks again Josh)
1.0 Pinstripe
0.1 Pinstripe 100% het for Ghost
0.1 Lemon Blast
1.0 Vanilla Ghost(Thanks again GCR for all the great snakes)
0.1 Super Vanilla Ghost(Awesome Chris and Shelia from GCR)
0.1 Vanilla Yellow Belly
0.1 Vanilla(Another one from Josh Hutto,I must have all your snakes now...lol.) Thanks my friend, Jay
1.1 Stillwater Hypo Bull snakes(Brad Chambers)
0.0.1 Great looking Brown and Tan Desert Bull Snake)
0.0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.1 Argentinian Black and White Tegus
1.0 Gotti Pitbull (Tank)
2.0 Beautiful Bengals (Stryker and Cynbad)
14 Tarantulas
Last but most Important 2.2 Children

The breeder seems to have a good reputation (I did a lot of research on him and his facility). The female normal is the last of his normals. She is an 04, 3100 grams, and he breeds his females every other season. He did not put any males to her this season and last time (09), she gave him 9 eggs. I guess he could have told me 15 eggs if he really wanted to get me.

Since my 3 normals are all around 1000 grams, I just figured I could do with one big girl that would at least for sure be at breeding weight in Dec. I guess I will have to think about it for a bit. I really didnt want more then 3 normal girls but she seems to be to nice to pass up.

I wouldnt worry about it much then, it sounds like he is being pretty straight up with you as you said and if you want to make yourself a good reputation or have already done that and want to keep it good you really need to be on the up and up. I understand it being one of his last Normals and being ready to sell her off. I have a bunch of them right now but I too will be looking to sell off most of them over the next year or two as my Morphs mature. I have a little girl Normal(my smallest breeder)and her first year that was just about 1200 or 1300 and she only gave me 4 eggs from my Fire but I will feed her well this year now, and she eats like a hog and then decide in the Fall if I will try breeding her again next year or give her the year off. I am sure she will move up to the 7 to 12 egg range like most of mine seem to do as long as she continues to put on good size. Go for it, feed the heck out of her and put her with you best male this Fall. I bet you will be very happy with the results. Good luck with her, Jay
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JEM from sunny AZ.

3.25 Normals
3.10 Pastels
1.0 Super Pastels(Thanks Dan Wolf for the best looking Super male I have ever seen)
2.7 Normal Spiders
1.1 Spiders 100% het Ghost(thanks Mark Petros)
0.2 Spiders 66% het Ghost(Thanks Steve Beamer)
1.3 Orange/Butterscotch Ghosts(BallPython777 Mark Petros)
0.6 100% het Orange Ghosts
0.3 66% het Orange Ghosts(should prove this year)
0.1 Pastel Ghost
1.0 Citrus Ghost(courtesy of Josh Hutto)
0.1 Super Pastel 100% het Ghost
2.3 Albinos
1.1 Caramel Albinos
0.1 100% het Caramel Albino
0.4 100% het for Albino
0.5 66% het for Albino(should prove this year)
0.7 Yellow Bellies
1.0 Pastel Yellow Belly
1.2 Ivories
1.2 100% het for Clowns(Mark Petros)
1.6 Cinnamons(Thanks Stan Ruppel)
1.0 Pied
1.4 100% het for Pied(Josh Hutto and Paul the Pied Peddler)
0.5 66% het for Pied(should prove out next year with my visual male Pied)
1.5 Mojaves
0.1 Pastave het Ghost
1.1 Beautiful Black Pastels(thanks Gulf Coast Reptiles)
1.2 BumbleBees(thanks for the AWESOME Bees Marc Bailey)
1.1 Pewters(Myself and Scott Priester of Brookside Reptiles)
0.1 Chocolates(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.3 Lessers(Josh Hutto)
3.2 Fire's(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.2 High White Calico's(Thanks Brent from BRB)
1.1 SpotNoses(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Enchi's (Me and Josh Hutto, Thanks again Josh)
1.0 Pinstripe
0.1 Pinstripe 100% het for Ghost
0.1 Lemon Blast
1.0 Vanilla Ghost(Thanks again GCR for all the great snakes)
0.1 Super Vanilla Ghost(Awesome Chris and Shelia from GCR)
0.1 Vanilla Yellow Belly
0.1 Vanilla(Another one from Josh Hutto,I must have all your snakes now...lol.) Thanks my friend, Jay
1.1 Stillwater Hypo Bull snakes(Brad Chambers)
0.0.1 Great looking Brown and Tan Desert Bull Snake)
0.0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.1 Argentinian Black and White Tegus
1.0 Gotti Pitbull (Tank)
2.0 Beautiful Bengals (Stryker and Cynbad)
14 Tarantulas
Last but most Important 2.2 Children

Suppose but not always the case.

I just got a clutch from a 2500g female : 6 eggs
My 1800g gave me 7 eggs.

There is more factor than only weight. But weight is big in the equation.
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love this world, don't hate it.

My 3500 gram female gave me 9 huge eggs.

Bill
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2.1 Tripple Het Caramel, Orange Ghost, Genetic Stripe
1.0 Honeybee
1.1 Het Lavenders
1.1 Het Caramel Albino
0.1 Het Albino
0.1 Spider Het Albino
0.1 Het Pied
1,1 Pastel Het for Orange Ghost
1.0 Albino
0.1 Spinner
1.1 Super Pastel
0.1 Jungle Pastel
1.0 Pied 50 percent White
0.1 Clown
0.3 Normal
1.1 Kids (9) and (16)
0.1 Spouse (22 Years Married)
1.0 Chocolate Lab

Thanks for all the advice. I built a 10 tub melamine rack to get me started and now have 6 females (3 normal and 3 pastels) and 1 male bumble bee. I have 3 empty tubs and I think a part of me wants it filled! I'm trying to hold off the urge and wait til (hopefully) my girls and boy produce so I can start making some trades or some money to buy new morphs and better racks. Its so hard though seeing BP's like this 3000 gram girl......we have a reptile show in Arlington, TX in late July so maybe I should wait to see if they have anything there. I just think about possibly an extra 10 eggs. What is considered to be the prime breeding age for a female? Again, y'all are awesome and your advice is priceless to a beginning breeder like me.

The best bet is that the clutch will weight about 1/3 of the female's prelay weight (that's 1/2 of what she weighs after laying, incredible!). Really big and fat females might be a bit light on the clutch proportion but the ratio of the total clutch weight to female weight is a fairly reliable rule.

Unfortunately there is a tendency for big girls to lay really big eggs. So while of course the highest number of eggs will come from the biggest girls it's not a linear equation. My scale broke years ago but I had a moderate sized first clutch girl lay 9 eggs this year that where probably around 80 - 90 grams each. A much larger girl of mine laid only 1 more out on a breeding loan but those 10 eggs where about 120 grams each. If she could have just laid the same small eggs she might have been up around the 14 mark she hit a couple years ago.

I agree my biggest female was 4800 grams she laid 14 huge eggs that was 1800 grams my 2700 gram female gave me 11 eggs that was 1065 grams
Jason A.

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Jason Amos

1.1 Staffordshire Bull Terriers
Ball Pythons
1.2 Lesser Platty
0.2 Mojave
0.1 Spider Het Albino
1.1 DH Genetic Stripe / Albino
0.2 Pastel
0.1 66% Poss. Het Albino
0.7 Normals