Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With all the breeding success stories that have been posted in the last few months, I figured I would share my train wreck for what it is worth.
SLUG FEST 2005
I had a feeling this was going to happen. To make a long story short....this girl was BIG....overweight.
I wanted to see what would happen during breeding season and if she would lay eggs. Over the past few seasons, I have had a female or two not breed. At first it seemed like the males weren’t interested...but then I started to wonder if the females weren’t sending the right signals. With one or two females, I felt that they may be too heavy...they just looked lazy.

2 eggs...3 weird eggs...7 slugs
I think I am going to lose the three weird eggs.
The two green (they GREEN...more green than they look in the pictures) have me wondering how long they were sitting in her. They were not typical slugs. It appeared as if they didn't have a shell....follicular masses???

I think she threw so many slugs because she was too fat. I think overweight ball pythons make poor breeders. I don’t have any scientific basis for this statement...it’s just my opinion based on a few breedings that have taken place here.

She was over 3600 grams AFTER the slug fest. I don't have an accurate weight on her going into breeding season.

Joe Compel Reptiles

Joe,

That stinks. What is the total weight of the eggs? I wonder about the signals sent from the female. I have one male that I call a lazy breeder. Put him with one female and he's happy. Add anymore and he goes into hide mode.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I don't have a total weight on the slugs.
I have a male that is a "shy" breeder too. I have seen him breeding about three times in the three years that I ran him to females. He got the job done though....

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

Hey Joe,

How the heck are you? Slug fest 2005, LOL! Slugs happen much more than people discuss, I have had at least five this season. I know you are going to have a great breeding season. Take care and good luck Joe!

Best Wishes,

Tony Pappalardo
Living Art Reptiles

Good luck with your season too.

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

Joe,
I tend to agree with you about the possibility of larger females making poor breeders or actually overweight females rather. I've had some real slobs drop bad eggs or eggs go bad, but yet I've imported snakes that looked like they havent ate in 3 years and they dropped 10 good eggs....go figure. I think there is a perfect size-weight ratio that an animal can achieve to have optimum breeding potential. Sorry about the bad luck, but thanks for posting..Like you said nobody really posts the bad things, and I would assume the bad is more common then the good. Well anyways, good luck with the rest of your clutches and cant wait to see some more of your ghosts coon. Take care.

Mike Brooks
TNS Reptiles
Long Island, NY
631-732-4233

I too have seen some females that were thin that laid great clutches....makes you wonder how they hold all those big eggs.
I too think there is an optimal size/weight/girth ratio. I don't have it pinned down but I can tell you that too big is not good
Good luck with your season Mike.

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

I agree with you about FAT females laying slugs. I have one girls that has given me about 80% slugs for the last 3 years! This year she is going on a serious diet to make her a little more svelt. I palpated her the other day and she is full of slugs again! It's also amazing how you can get a run of good eggs from clutches and then you hit a slug fest where several females in a row lay some slugs. Then you get another run of good eggs in a row. There is no rhyme or reason to it. They are all the perfect weight. I think it may be a temp issue at a certain time of year. All I know is the more I breed these guys the less I know! Soon as you think you've got them figured out, they throw you a curve ball. Females!!!! Can't live with'em...can't live without them! LOL!

Are we having fun yet???? You bet!

Mark
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www.ballpython.ca

she was too big....I couldn't feel a thing.
We'll see waht happens with her in the future.

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

Hey Joe,

Interesting idea about heavy females and slugs. I have an older female (maybe around 12 years old now) probably pushing the 6 foot mark that weighs in around 8.5 pounds (3800 grams) or so in the middle of the feeding season. She has NEVER produced a single slug! I can't say she's heavy, but she is not 'thin' for her size. She's gravid right now and will hopefully lay a nice clutch in about two weeks. If she slugs out, I'll post that. Best of luck with the rest of your girls!

Matt
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"Change what you cannot accept... do not accept what you can't change!"

Tod Ashley C.$.C.

after she laid. I would say she is a bit less than five feet....about a foot shorter than yours. She was fat.
It good for a female to have some girth....they need it for all those big eggs. But there is a point where too much is not good at all.

Good luck with your breeding season Matt.

Joe
Joe Compel Reptiles

I started out with a very good season but then it turned to slugfest. I got 12 out of 12 on the first clutch, with a hatching of 8 pastels out of the 12, then my second clutch was 4 eggs out of 8 with a 3 pastel ratio, still good in my book, next was 5 out of 9 with only one weird baby to hatch(something I figure I did wrong) the I get 7 out of 7 that is also good, then here comes the slugfest.... 1 out of 8, 4 out of 4, 0 out of 5, 0 out of 7, 0 out of 4. I still have hope but who knows since I only have a few more clutches due. weird year for me. Thanks David

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1.0 Pied(04)(RDR)
1.0 Albino(04)(RDR)
0.1 Spider(04)(RDR)
4.2 Pastels(03's)(04's)(ASF,Graziani,Bell lines)
0.1 Yellow belly(unproven)(04)
1.3 Yellow belly(unproven)(02,03,04's)
2.0 100% HET CLOWN(04's)(MHMR)
3.3 100% het albinos(03's)(high contrast bell line)
0.1 poss Het Albino(03's)
2.0 100% het pieds(03's)(Vin Russo,CRE)
0.2 100% het pieds(03's)(04's)(RDR,TWL)
1.2 Poss het pieds(03's)(PETE KAHL)
2.1 Poss het pieds(00's)(01's) hoping to get PIEDS this year(Vin Russo, Pete Kahl)
25 Normal adult females
60 04 females
15 normal mixed 03's
20 Assorted weird ball pythons 04's
11 baby 2005 PASTELS just HATCHED...4-8-05