So, as most of you know, John and I nest our snakes much differently than most breeders {full cage nesting} and we feel that bad nesting and dehydration has everything to do with egg binding and other issues we see in captivity including reproduction longevity. Well over the last 3 seasons we have been testing our nesting technique and discovered a few things. One is that females will NOT be roaming the cage the night before laying looking for a proper nest spot. They know where they will be laying eggs days, even weeks before hand. Two is that females will lay much sooner after prelay shed. 1 to 4 days. And 3, it is possible to safely breed small females crushing that 250 gram "rule".
Below is a pic of a female at post lay weight. She was 120 grams when breeding took place, her gravid weight was between 150 and 155. Her weight right after laying eggs is 104 grams. And there is a photo of the 9 perfect eggs she laid. They are also very average sized eggs. The female had all 9 eggs out of her in 3 hours start to finish.
