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How long should a female Zonata be before you can safely breed her?

>>How long should a female Zonata be before you can safely breed her?

It's more about a safe weight but I think a 24 inch Zonata over 200 grams (Or larger) will breed successfully....Some smaller.......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

A lot of female zonata in the wild never reach 200 grams. Most will start breeding when over 50 grams which they reach in their third or fourth year of age. Wild snakes do not usually require the mass that we put onto our captives though. Still a 200 gram female is a huge snake. We once had a L. z. zonata, which can breed even smaller than other ssp, with a prelay mass of only about 45 grams lay over 20 grams of fertile eggs. No she did not double clutch.

Depending on the locale, a safe weight is likely 60-100 grams. I have a couple first time breeders that I will weigh tonight and report back.

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Rick Staub

>>A lot of female zonata in the wild never reach 200 grams. Most will start breeding when over 50 grams which they reach in their third or fourth year of age. Wild snakes do not usually require the mass that we put onto our captives though. Still a 200 gram female is a huge snake. We once had a L. z. zonata, which can breed even smaller than other ssp, with a prelay mass of only about 45 grams lay over 20 grams of fertile eggs. No she did not double clutch.
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>>Depending on the locale, a safe weight is likely 60-100 grams. I have a couple first time breeders that I will weigh tonight and report back.

Thanks for the info Rick......I did not know they would breed at such a low weight.......It doesn't seem that it would take 3 to 4 years for them to get that weight though.......Not the way these multifasciata are eating.......and growing

I've seen a few Zonata that were definitely over 200 grams...I guess they were "above average" then.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

We feed our captives a rich plentiful diet and tend to worry when they don't eat for two weeks! LOL! In the wild a snake might be lucky to eat once a month. So wild snakes would naturally take much longer to attain any size in comparison to our pampered pets. Still, a 50 gram female actually breeding seems not possible. I sure wish I could find one; I'd feed it very well!
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Yeah, the smaller the animal, the less we believe they'll breed. However, I currently have a St. Helena Mtn. king that's gravid with four eggs and she only weights 54 grams! After she lays those eggs I'm sure she'll be in the high thirties or low forties. Those double-z's always tend to lay small.

Mitch

>>Yeah, the smaller the animal, the less we believe they'll breed. However, I currently have a St. Helena Mtn. king that's gravid with four eggs and she only weights 54 grams! After she lays those eggs I'm sure she'll be in the high thirties or low forties. Those double-z's always tend to lay small.
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>>Mitch

Interesting...thanks for your information as well....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I have a Sierran female that is breeding this year for the first time and she is right at 100 grams. She is 4 years old and a little bit above minimum breeding size. I also have another Sierran female (same locale) that laid last year for the first time though she laid duds. This year she is gravid again and also is right at 100 grams.
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Rick Staub

Thanks for all the replies guys! My female Santa Cruz has doubled in size this past year. I thought I might have to wait another year. I put the pair together yesterday and the male went right to trying to mate her. I then had second thoughts about her size and removed her. I just weighed her and she is at 150grams - Sooo back together they go. I will try to post some pics of this fine Ric Blair pair of Multifac.

Thanks, Robert