The het Pied female, raised from a hatchling, was just over 7800g last time I weighed her. The Pied offspring is right around 5000g. Genetics play a huge role in adult size.
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if at all possible could you show off your bertha line pieds? that has me very intrigued since a baby is only around 65 to 70 on average as a hatchling. Do you think we will see much bigger balls in the future? say 10 or 15 years from now? i ask because i know of a few who are breeding to get overall larger ball pythons
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I myself feed my females meals once a week. You are absolutely correct that they will know when the time is right. If they produce follicles then they are ready in my opinion. Ive been keeping for yrs breeding for 3 yrs. In that time ive had some start building at 1200 gs and some that is 3 yrs old that havent even built follicles yet and are 2000g +. Most of my girls are at 1200-1300gs when they build follicles. Ive also got a yr and half old female that is 1400 gs and beginning her first build this season and a 2.5 yr old that is 1500 grams and is building up herself. So far in my experience is the better reserve they make for their body the bigger the clutch. My biggest clutch this yr is 12 that a 4 yr old female is building. It all comes down to how well you know your animals.
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Opinions on a 2 year old female at 1,250 grams? Give her another few months to get to 1500?
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I would give her another year. Even at that weight, it’s usually more beneficial to let the female reach 3 years until you breed them.
At least that’s always been my general rule.
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Depends on her condition. If she’s a hefty 1250 I wouldn’t hesitate. If she’s more slender I would wait.
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depends on her for us. I will at 1200 grams IF they are a strong eater, have healthy fat stores. I have 2 now, one is 1340 grams the other is 1400 both strong eaters and plump so they will get bred, my orange dream though is 1200 grams but doesn’t have the fat stores and isn’t a great eater so she won’t be bred.
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When a female is ready to breed, she is ready to breed. In my experience, they release the right amount of eggs that are appropriate for there size. 2 of my females were on the smaller side this year, around 1300-1400g but were the right age. One laid 6 eggs (1 slug) the other laid 5 eggs, no slugs. On the flip side, I had a 2300+g female lay 11 eggs last year then give me 9 slugs this year and 3 healthy eggs. I think the slugs were more enviromental than size related. I did some things differently this year which I think caused the slugs. I think a female will spend more enegy growing eggs than growing their body so in that regard, you may get more eggs if you wait and allow the female to grow. However, I got 6 from my first year pastel clown 3 years ago, 7 from her last year, and 8 from her this year. So I don’t think it’s true that if you breed one early it will never get up to the higher yields. Bigger snakes lay more eggs. That’s what seems to be the truth.
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I also don’t love the term ethical or unethical in this context. I think for the most part people, myself included, are doing this for the love of these animals. I don’t think you can do this year in and year out if you don’t absolutely love it. Breeding a female “early” because you are excited about the pairing and want the offsprings for a future project and have determined that she is ready to lay based upon certain signs like bowl wrapping or other signs, and you are giving her the proper support before she lays and getting her back on food properly after she lays, is not unethical. Putting a hatchling in box without a heat pad in the winter or not using styrofoam support in your box or using a beat up box to save a buck or 2, now that’s unethical. Purposely underfeeding a hatchling because you are trying to save $1.50, that’s unethical. I don’t think breeding a female that is 1000g is unethical, sorry.
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I’m sorry but I’ll have to disagree. If you were doing this for the “love” of these animals you wouldn’t breed a female 3 years in a row. Continually breeding a female year after year has proven to shorten life span. To many breeders do this for monetary gain, and the good ones give their females a year between breeding.
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I’ve thought about this also. I read today the lifespan in the wild is 10 years and in captivity I think it said 18 years. Would that influence your opinion at all?
Ball pythons have been known to live up to 30 years in captivity.
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The oldest BP in captivity was 47 years old. They can live up to 40 with the best care. A heavily bred female probably won’t live anything past 25. If even to that point.
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That is because they die of things in the wild that we can prevent in captivity (disease and predators, and even birth complications) given we actually care about them living to their fullest. I am aware that you and many other breeders/people don’t, but some of us do care. People that defend the bad care of any animal with “that is longer than they live in the wild” are clearly alright with sub-par conditions that can only be glorified by comparing to the wild. Where everything dies and nothing is peaceful, pleasant, or even slightly humane. May as well not get them vet treatment, cut eggs, save a female when she is egg bound, or let any morph that wouldn’t make it in the wild live. Don’t talk about the wild when we are talking about domestic keeping of animals that we are responsible for having thrive. Because we care about them and want them to be with us as long as they can, not because we want to treat them like scaley cattle for making all of the babies/money.
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No. That would not influence my opinion at all actually.
Whenever you take almost any animal, especially a reptile out of the wild and introduce it to the captive lifestyle, almost all will live longer lives.
You can’t connect one with the other. Reptiles in the wild don’t have access to vet care, steady meals, fresh water, no predators etc. There are many many causes for reptiles in the wild not living a long lifespan.
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That makes sense. Thanks
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: How many consecutive seasons is it safe to breed a Female Ball Python