Speaking from experience, I would definately wait a year or so. I had a female banded that was nearly four years old that I bred this year. She was healthy and had good weight on her. In april/may of this year she laid two infertile eggs and became egg bound and died. Speaking with the experts in the field, I was informed that she was probably not big enough. A huge mistake on my part, but if someone can learn something from it...

Jeff