Breeding Weight?

[Auskan]

What would be an approximate mature breeding weight for a ball python?

[mykee]

That varies greatly from ball to ball, but most males will be producing sperm plugs by 600 grams, sometimes sooner. With females, for a first time breeder, I would say at least 1500g. Some go sooner, some go later but 1500g is a good starting point.

[BoidKeeper]

1500 for a virgin 4' ball. Balls longer then 4' should weigh more.
Trevor

[emroul]

That's good advice, Trevor. I would never know that if I didn't watch the "Ball python breeding" dvd from Dr. Mark Seward. I have a female that is about 55-58 inches that I was thinking about using this year to try my hand at breeding, because she weighs 1630 grams. But I have come to realize that it isn't "bulky" weight that she needs (which I learned from that video as well :)), just length weight (if that even makes sense, lol).

It may sound like she weighs enough because of "grams", but she is only about as big around as a tennis ball (give or take, of course).. <--- for lack of better comparison, lol.

Anyway, great advice. :)
Jennifer

[Auskan]

Jennifer, I'm not sure I'm with you. Are you saying that length is more important than weight, or that length plus weight need to be taken into consideration?

[MajickSprings]

I think what Jennifer is saying (and I could be wrong) is that you need to take both weight and length into consideration. You wouldn't want to breed a snake that is too short but weighs the recommended weight only because you've power fed it and it's really fat and not of good proportions.

Did that just make sense?

[emroul]

Umm, sorry about the confusion, lol. I was saying that the female I have is really long (a couple inches shy of 5 feet), but skinny. I wouldn't use her for breeding because she doesn't have as much fat particles as she needs to produce a good clutch of eggs (IMO). Just like a tall person may weigh alot (or the weight is a big number) but they are skinny. That number comes from the fact that they are tall. Just like this female. She is really long, that's where the 1630 grams comes from, but she doesn't have much fat on her.

Was that any better? :)

[Auskan]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.