IYO, am I overfeeding?

@lindasark I’ve wondered the same.

@lindasark @thecrawdfather I’m very confident in the proportions of the graphic, particularly when you consider what reproductive sizes are in the wild (average weight for a reproductive female is 1275g ± 359g). These are snakes reproducing every other year (on average), with likely parasite loads, and all of the stresses of survival, but still the general gauge of the species IMO.

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Wow that’s a awesome and beautiful BP.!! He or she looks great :+1:t3: perfect shape! Keep it up, your doing just fine… :snake::love_you_gesture:t3::snake:

Now it even get’s more confusing. There is difference in advise about breeding ball pythons, but one thing every single breeder seems to agree on is that your female should be at least 1500 gram and preferably even more before you breed them. Only when your female is really like already 4 years or even older because it’s a mouser or bad eater you can try at a lesser weight. I don’t know if I’m maybe misunderstanding the schedule, but is it now claiming you can breed a female at only 1275 g or a little more?

I am really very confused now

@lindasark Before things get rolling into chaos, please recognize that I’m citing scientific data about wild conditions. The captive environment and captive breeding are vastly different from that experience and should not be taken as an absolute recommendation of care…otherwise we’d be planting mites and ticks in our enclosures and letting dogs chase our pet snakes in back-yard-size enclosures :roll_eyes:
I’m not proposing that we should breed females at 1275g, but it is well established that the current concept of the ‘ideal’/healthy ball python is not the same as what is found in the wild. My guess is that most of those reproductive females, if given the access to resources our CBB females receive, would likely be in the 1500+ range. However, age/survival (more than weight) is the determinant of reproductive health in the wild and that doesn’t happen in two years as is not to uncommon with heavily fed CBB females. As for whether or not they can breed at that size, science and experience most certainly says they can but, again, these are not 2 or even 3 year old females.

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On a related note, I’ve long felt that we should account for age in addition to weight when it comes to breeding females. Ball pythons are long-lived animals. In captivity, with good care, they can live 40+ years. Personally I don’t breed any of my girls until they’re at least 3 years old.

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Oke, that makes sence. Don’t get me wrong. I’m just trying to get information. In the wild things indeed go very different. Nature programmed animals mostly to simply reproduce and keep the spieces going, and didn’t always concern what is healthy for a body. Most creatures on this planet including people, are fertile long before it is really healthy to give birth so indeed, it is better to wait with our ball pythons till they are older and heavier, or at least more mature.

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As a breeder, if you’re going by that graphic, you’re not going to see the best results. If you’re just keeping a pet it’s not a bad reference to have. No two situations are the same and some animals may need more or less food than others.

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She looks just fine, keep doing every five days.

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