?'s not covered in Faq sheet.

[damzookeeper]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can tell me a balls life span, I couldnt' find it in the faq sheet. And at what age are they ready for breeding or what size in grams? Thanks.

[arkuden]

i think the record or close to for a ball python was about 42 years or so. They make great companions and i think that the breeding age starts around 3 or 4 years. Not sure on the size tho. Im sure someone else will be able to help out too.

[justintpythons]

breeding size for females should be around 1800 grams, mabey even a bit lighter but breeding is taxing so it might not be the the best idea to breed a lighter female. males can breed at around 800-900 grams but may not produce as many fetile clutch as a bigger male. but there is always exceptions to these weights.

[damzookeeper]

Cool! So that means I could have my balls till I"m like 60. lol. They are easily becoming my favorite snakes, right up there with my hognoses. :D
The people I got my balls from told me the female is ready to breed this coming year and I thought she looked a bit small. Ya!! She is not even 730 grams yet. lol, I wasn't planing on breeding her this year anyway, I thought maybe next but now I'm thinking it will have to wait for 2. I doubt she gains that much weight in the next year, especially the way she eats. She wont take rats, no matter what, she is a mouse eater through and threw. lol
Funny how they can smell the difference or something. I offered a rat for nearly 5 hours and she left it, I took it out and put in a mouse and bamb less than 5 mintues after the mouse was in there she ate it! The little skunk! Gotta love them though. :)

They told me she was 2.5 years old. Does that sound small for that age or about average? Thanks.
Deb.

[mykee]

Record for a ball is 47 years. Age means NOTHING at all when determining the sexual maturity of a ball: males; when they produce sperm plugs (usually over 600g, or around 1-1.5 yrs.)
Females: can be bred as small as 1000g, ideally though, 1500g +. Age is irrelavent. Size size size.

[Vengeance]

Doesn't age play a bit of a factor? I know weight is more important but as female ball pythons get older shouldn't they weigh more then 1500 grams to be viable for breeding? As an example shouldn't say an 8 year old female Ball python come closer to the 2000 gram mark or more to be viable for breeding as opposed to only being 1500 grams?

Also I'm no expert but 750 grams for a 2.5 year old ball python sounds kinda small to me.

[Ron]

Age isn't a factor in when they can FIRST produce.

Yes, as they get older and longer they should be heavier than 1500 grams. If you watch Dr Seward's BP breeding video; Colette shows a 1500 gram female that is fit for breeding and a 2500 gram (much longer) female who doesn't have the fat reserves to produce a viable clutch.

750 grams definitely sounds small for a 2.5 year old BP. I have a 2004 Spider female who is 592 grams and she is just 4 months old. She is however quite a good feeder but even a marginal feeder should be in the 1250 - 1500 gram range in 2.5 years.

[mykee]

My males get to between 600-1100g by their first b-day, and my girls get 1000-1700g by their first b-day.

[damzookeeper]

So, do you think that it is possible that she is not actually 2.5 years old and I was just told that because I was originally looking for a breeding pair? I actually didn't care if she wasn't of breeding age yet as I don't plan on breeding her for some time. I would like to purchase the B.p. breeding video and the ball python manual (which I'm getting next month) before I start. Right now I'm just enjoying them as pets.

THanks everyone for all your help.