Posted by:
serpentcity
at Wed Apr 6 21:46:50 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by serpentcity ]
...sounds like she's quite the producer!!
She's clearly in her prime...and you can bet she wasn't first bred when she was 1500 gm...Sure would like to know her early history...sounds like an animal that was allowed to mature properly before her first breeding...and it isn't surprising she can recover and produce like she's doing...
...personally I feel it can't be a bad thing to give females a year off...females that have been given sufficient time to mature can handle it better than smaller females...I have several females in the 2000 gm range that produced last year for the first time...they had this year off...THEY decided by not banging down food sufficiently to get the weight on...the bigger the female the easier it is to get weight on...another female about this weight (2000g) is gravid...better genetics?...just a better adapted female?...whatever...depending on how she recovers she may or may not go in 06...
...there are exceptions to every rule but it is prudent to give a heavy producer a year off every 3-4 years to allow the reproductive organs to "rest"...but a female such as yours may go on to lay a clutch of slugs if you don't breed her...
...in the wild VERY FEW females produce in consecutive years...only the top few percent of females can do it...in captivity a larger % but this is largely dependent on the size of a given female...3600g is in the upper 5% of the captive population...
...as far as maternal incubation goes, I think given a choice, most females would avoid being burdened with a clutch for 55-60 days...I doubt females care one way or the other...your female seems to be responding quite well to the artificial incubation...
What is the sire of this years clutch? Sounds like some genes I'd like to add to my group lol!
Scott
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Thanks for asking.... - serpentcity, Wed Apr 6 21:46:50 2005