Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I finally got my female on a scale last night and I was pleasently surprised! I knew she had to weigh at least 2.75-3 lbs but actually she's 3.69 lbs!! (3 lbs 11.1 oz to be exact). She's so happy and healthy, and has plenty of time to reach that magic 4.5lbs mark; my male is right over 1.5lbs at the moment, so that gives Carman plenty of time to get bigger!!! it's so exciting beginning to prepar for my first breeding, i know its a long way off, but I feel like theres so much to do and I want everything to be just right! and as always, ANY advice or little tid bits that any of you may have would be SOOO appriciated!

Hey Paula, Carmen is already to size and being a 2007 is also of age. 3 lbs minimum, 3.5 is better and at least 2 1/2 years old at the beginning of breeding season. The male needs to also be 2 1/2 years old and since he's a 2009 that will work for next season as well. This fall you should temp cycle them, look on my site for my breeding care sheet.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hey Paula, thats great, sounds like you are progressing along nicely, you'll be surprised at just how fast your first litter is here!!!! I know it seems like an excruciating wait now, but the time will start to fly, I promise you!!

I actually just took weights on a couple of my breeders last night:

My 2006 female that produced a litter of 25 babies in August 2010, and whom I gave the year off to, weighed in at 6.5 pounds. She is probably fed 24 medium rats per year give or take.

My 2006 male that has fathered a couple litters in his time weighed in at 5.5 pounds!!! I feed him on average 12-16 medium sized rats per year, definitely not over-fed, but healthy, muscular, and in good shape!!

Back when I was just getting into BRBs and my first female was only in the 3 pound range, I had always heard things like "minimum to breed is 2.5 years and 3 pounds." I had no idea that this is NOWHERE near the size of a full grown, mature adult. I ended up waiting to take my shot at my first litter until my adults got larger and this paid off amazingly!! Her first litter had 25 babies, and I am quite confident that had I bred her one year earlier she would have had 1/2 the babies or less!! This has allowed me to give her the year off while still getting great production from her in breeding years. Just food for thought and my opinion from my experiences!!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB Breeders(Dugo, Sultan, Roxxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.0 BRB striped holdback of my 8/23/10 litter of 25 (Nando)
1.1 100% het hypo BRB (Diego & Rasheena)
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0.2 BRBs still in CALI, about to join me in Missouri!!!! 1 hypo/1 het hypo (Ireena & Liddia)

Paula,
...This discussion about breeding size must be predicated by your goals. If you have a cherished pet that you want to keep healthy for as long as possible I would advise against ever breeding it. It is so interesting to breed these animals and so rewarding from an intellectual standpoint that some of us just HAVE to breed ours. For some others the financial rewards can make it worthwhile. Breeding snakes is not a very good way to make money but it is nice to have a hobby that pays it's own way. As has been mentioned she is plenty big enough to breed this winter. Waiting for them to grow bigger before breeding is always best for the snake. The energy requirements of supporting as much as a third of their own body weight in babies for 5.5 months during which they sometimes do not feed at all and usually only take a few small meals has to be enormous. You should also seriously consider only breeding her every other year. These snakes can produce babies several years in a row but if you do breed them every year it does seem to shorten their lives. Many of my oldest female snakes have seemed like poor breeders and only produced babies every second or third year throughout their lives. I think we are to the point where we can keep these snakes healthy for many decades, I have had some of mine for over 20 years. A couple others of them were adult size imports when I got them almost 20 years ago. The only losses I seem to have anymore are related to reproduction.
Good luck,
Jeff