Honduran breeding size

[snakefreak007]

What's the consensus on the minimum breeding size/weight for female Hondurans? Thanks

[MarcB]

500 gr. would be the minimal weight I would breed a female honduran, knowing they will reach upwards of 1 000 gr. and more, I usualy breed them by their third spring when they usualy weigh between 600 & 800 gr.

With that being said, I know many that will attempt breeding them at 18 months and 350-400 gr. to get 3-4 eggs, nonsence if you ask me as doing this will only stun growth and these females will never reach their full potential...ever seen what a six foot female can produce, I know I have... :)

My 2 pences worth...

[Jeff_Favelle]

I'm with Marc. I always wait now until the 3rd year for females, and 2nd year for males (don't want them too small or they'll get EATEN!!).

[snakefreak007]

Thanks guys, greatly appreciated.

PJ

[Classic]

Personally, i perfer my hondos to be in the 1200gr+ range. Case#1 - One particular female last year that produced a 1st clutch of 15 healthy eggs and then double clutched 6 more. Her post brumation weight was 1055gr. She topped out before egg laying at 1310gr.
This season she was a little smaller with a post brumation of 875gr and topped out at 1146gr before egg laying and only produced 10 eggs with no double clutch thus far and she seems to be done for this year.
Case # 2 - A short female but with a very large girth with post brumation of 1002gr. I suspect she was bred at an early and undersized age and this explains her approx 48" length. She laid (lost these records) i think 6-8 eggs in her only clutch. This girl retained eggs high up in her abdomen and was later euthenized.
Case# 3 - A very thin female with a post brumation of 471gr but with a nice lenght of approx 5ft+. Gained weight like a champ but produced no eggs. Shes currently 750gr+(havent done my weights for this month) and getting ready for brumaton but i feel that she lacked sufficient body weight to produce any eggs.

My humble opinion with the knowledge i've picked up from Brian and everyone else in this form is that a female should be in top physical condition with a weight of 1000gr mininum at post brumation. With this said, i believe this to be valid point if your intention is to breed the female year after year. I will also say that it is probably fine to breed smaller size hondos but i firmly believe that it will harm the natural growth. BUT, who's to say that a wild female in a natural setting encountering an agressive male will avoid bumping uglies. She most likely will be bred. It is very important to keep the data of all breeding activitiles as reflection for questions like this.

I encourage everyone to open a daily planner and write down their weights, eggs, duds, males/females, incubation temps, sucessful hatches, incubation time, weights at every stage, etc, etc, etc.

I realize it seems like alot of work but it is times like these that your data when compared to others, begin to show patterns and these types of questions can be answered with definitive, accurate and proven information.

The bottom line for me is, a large female is key to any long-term successful breeding program.

Andrea

[MarcB]

Great information Andrea!

All the best to you guys

[milki]

thank you guys for all the information.

still have one more question, by breeding a young female when she is still not in her full size, you stun and stop her growth?

thanks
nevo

[MarcB]

Nevo,

Breeding a young female will not stop her growth, she will however never reach her full growth potential, hence ''Stun growth''...

They do most of their growing in the first 24 months and then slow down but keep growing all their lives...