Will,

I do agree that unless you are experienced with breeding, you should not breed a female hog at 150 grams. However, it has nothing at all to do with becoming egg bound. The fact is, a 150 gram female does not run any more risk of becoming egg bound than a female at 250 grams. And a female at 250 grams is not any less likely to become egg bound than a 150 gram female. Egg binding has nothing to do with the size or actual weight of the female. If a snake is able to ovulate and become gravid, she is mature and more than capable of safely reproducing at pretty much any size. So, to answer your question, yes, I would consider a 150 gram female fully mature if she is sexually mature. In nature, sexual maturity is full maturity. And that is when animals start to reproduce. They do not wait until they are what "we" think is a safe weight.



My one and only concern with breeding small females like that is their post lay recovery. An experienced breeder will have no issues bringing a small female back up to a good weight and body mass. An inexperienced breeder may have some problems.



The biggest things that lead to egg binding are dehydration and improper nesting options. Improper nesting options would be the biggest problem of the two. There is not one single bit of literature or study done that says a smaller size female is more likely to become egg bound.



I do not mean to sound argumentative, but it does bother me a bit to see statements being produced as fact when they have no merit.



So now back to my question. Why do you think egg binding has anything to do with the actual size of the snake?

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