Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can a female be bred out??,do they have a certain amount of follicles that can actually develop over the years.i was told yesterday that sometimes its bad to buy huge females because a unless you raise the snake yourself you dont know the real age of the animal or how many times she has been bred, a 20 year old female might be 2500 grams and be bred out, so technically even huge females might not be a solid investment unless you raise them from babies and to go one step further females in the long run are worth more than actual morphs.you pay $50-100 maybe even less than that for a baby female raise her up to breeding size all of a sudden shes worth $500 or more all these people breeding some incredible looking animals and trying to sell them for $1000-$35-$50,000 not many people have that kind of cashflow to drop on a ball python these people are sitting on these beautiful animals the economy sucks the average person cant afford high end morphs so normal females are not only the building blocks to the future but the solid foundation to breeding and making $$$$$ i am sorry if i rambled that last paragraph off it just sounded very right to me hahahahaha sorry

I'm not sure about the whole 'bred out' thing. I don't know of any studies that have stated when bp fertility declines or comes to an end. And I don;t know if size is an accurate predictor of age, either. Just looking at my older females, I have one that's just over 3200g now, and one about 15 years old that's 3150g. Both breed just fine. I just don't know if there's really anyone that can honestly say they've been breeding bp's long enough to tell us reliably when fertility ends. The theory might be sound, after all human females begin to 'breed out' after peak fertility at around age 30, but I'd like to see some studies (not just a couple anecdotal reports). Reptiles are much more primitive animals and not as complex as humans; I wouldn't be surpised at all if fertility didn't decline noticably until very close to the end of that animals life.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Funny, a friend of mine who happens to own a pet store was telling me that buying old females is risky business. On account that they may be bred out. However, in the Ball Python Manual there is a report of an estimated 35 year old ball that laid a clutch of fertile eggs in the St. Louis zoo. I guess it all depends on the animal.

You are correct. That female still resides at the St. Louis Zoo and is 46 years old. I'll have to ask when they last bred it the next time I'm there. The Arboreal Symposium is in Feb. and we'll get a behind the scenes tour. Lots of great things zoos don't tell you they have.

Brandon Osborne

Please send all large adult females that are "old" to VPI.
I'll test the theory for you and write up what I find. I'll pay shipping. Just put a tag on bag that indicates age. Send only females that are of known age and at least 10 years old.

Sincerely,

Tracy Barker
PO Box 300
Boerne, TX 78006
210-414-4338
airport: San Antonio, TX (SAT)

Send the old ones to me. My older girls are among my best producers.
I don't know of anyone that has "bred out" a ball python. I just think we have been breeding them long enough to know the answer to or accurately comment on the original question/post.

Now big imported girls.......that is whole different story.....

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

That's why, with all of the animals I breed, I prefer to buy subadults. I am only breeding rats and clawed frogs at the moment; my BPs are still too young, but I know that if I get a subadult female, she's not an old granny.
Sure, you have to wait a few months (or years, in the case of BPs) but you know beyond a doubt that your animal is not someone's castoff nonbreeder or used-up.
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2.1 Ball pythons
1.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator
0.1 albino Cranwell's horned frog
1.0 bearded dragon
1.0 Tiger salamander
1.1 breeding Clawed frogs
1.0 black kittycat
3.1 Oscar cichlids
0.1 Paint horse mare

I would love to talk to a person that has "bred out" a Ball. That person has no clue what they are talking about.
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Chad Bachman

>>can a female be bred out??,do they have a certain amount of follicles that can actually develop over the years.i was told yesterday that sometimes its bad to buy huge females because a unless you raise the snake yourself you dont know the real age of the animal or how many times she has been bred, a 20 year old female might be 2500 grams and be bred out, so technically even huge females might not be a solid investment unless you raise them from babies and to go one step further females in the long run are worth more than actual morphs.you pay $50-100 maybe even less than that for a baby female raise her up to breeding size all of a sudden shes worth $500 or more all these people breeding some incredible looking animals and trying to sell them for $1000-$35-$50,000 not many people have that kind of cashflow to drop on a ball python these people are sitting on these beautiful animals the economy sucks the average person cant afford high end morphs so normal females are not only the building blocks to the future but the solid foundation to breeding and making $$$$$ i am sorry if i rambled that last paragraph off it just sounded very right to me hahahahaha sorry
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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@earthlink.net

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Chad Bachman

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Chad Bachman