Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering the recommended breeding size for males and female P. ruthveni.

No risk so far as males go... Just a matter of when they react to female scent and seek to breed. I'd guess in the realm of 30 inches but wouldn't be surprized to find one "mature" at a size less than that. Females are a potential problem in that they yield the largest eggs of any North American colubrid, albeit few of them. The risk then is in becoming eggbound because they are physically too small to pass the eggs out of the body. This is of course a life threatening condition. Based on my own breedings I'd hold out until the female is at nearly four feet in length and carrying significant bodyweight. Good luck...

Age is more important than size.

Considering the average egg size for this species, I'd wait until the female is at least five feet in length.
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I'm Dutch. Somebody shoot me.

>>I was wondering the recommended breeding size for males and female P. ruthveni.

i didn't start breeding my females until they were over 4' and most of them weighed 1600g. no particular reason, just the way it worked out. never had a problem. females were often not always particular about which male they mated with, most often the ones i had preferred to mate with a smaller male. just my .02. i felt it was very important to give them a big deep box full of moss to lay in. dark quiet no noise. and don't wait for the first shed to introduce pairs. you will miss it.
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Thanks everyone.I guess she still has a ways to go weight wise. The male is a '09 and she is a '11. She is 43" long and weighs is at 623gr. She eats a rat wean once a week but she don't seem to be putting on much more weight. I'm in no hurry to breed her but I do want to make sure shes a healthy weight first.