ball python weight

[never25]

i have some ball pythons and was thinking on breeding them but i might have to wait until next year. i was wondering how heavy the male and female should be for breeding. thenks for all input.

[Smilts]

I think females need to be from 1800grams up and males t doesnt matter to much

[mykee]

Males need to be producing sperm. That can happen as small as 400g and as late as 800g. The generic answer to your question is don't breed a male under 600g.
Females should be at least 1500g and "hefty" with a decent amount of fat supplies.

[Chu'Wuti]

Get a good scale so you can measure weights accurately. A female will apparently hit 1000+ gm at about 40", and it's healthier (less stressful) for the female to be the higher weight Michael recommends, though you'll read that they can be bred at lower weights. Keep in mind 1) producing eggs is demanding on the female in terms of energy and nutrients, so if she's larger, she can tolerate the demands better AND the babies will be healthier, and 2) she has to be big enough to pass her eggs.

[gonesnakee]

I always suggest 2000g+ for females myself. Nothing under 1500g should ever be bred IMHO (females) & should be 3 YO+. Some females of course don't get huge but should be given the opportunity too, thus waiting at least 3 years. As stated already males at a year or so if producing sperm & decent enough in size so he's not going to be drug around by his hemipenes by some huge female. Mark

[citysnakes]

if a female is not big enough to pass her eggs in the first place then most likely her follicles, if even present at the time, will not reach maturity to later be laid as eggs. i would worry more about overweight or unhealthy female balls egg binding over small females. if theyre healthy and ready to go then they probably will.

[gonesnakee]

We must always remember its in their "nature" to breed as soon as possible. In the wild they feed & breed as much/soon as possible. Prey is not provided in over abundance in nature though like it is in captivity & breeding as soon as they possibly can despite happening in nature all the time is not nessicarily the best route, specially in captivity. In nature their lifespans are considerably shorter for numerous reasons one of which is possibly being bred young & small IMHO. We can eliminate most all factors that will shorten their lifespan in captivity so why not do so? The way I look at it anyway. Cheers Mark

[mykee]

Mark, where the hell have you been since the BP boom in the late 90's, we're talking about ball pythons here, right? The answer is MONEY!!!
When I first got into these fine creatures back in 2000, all the literature I read said NEVER breed a female under 2000g. By the early 2000's, that was down to 1500g. Last year, I read some yahoo's advocating that as long as the female is 1200g and "healthy" she will breed just fine.
(sing along with me) money-money-money-money----MONEY!
For arguements sake, as a rule, I also like to have my females well over 1500g closer to 1750g before allowing them to breed.

[Chu'Wuti]

In conclusion: bigger is better! Safer for the female, she'll be healthier, the offspring will be healthier--seems to make a lot of sense--except for the greedy who don't care about the poor snake!!

sheesh.

[never25]

i think i will wait a year to try to breed them. i think they are about 2 years old right now. they are too young still thanks for all your suggestions. however i have 3 bp's 2 females and 1 male. the male and 1 female have been housed their entire life. should i separate them until next year? or should i leave them and let nature take its course?

[gonesnakee]

i think i will wait a year to try to breed them. i think they are about 2 years old right now. they are too young still thanks for all your suggestions. however i have 3 bp's 2 females and 1 male. the male and 1 female have been housed their entire life. should i separate them until next year? or should i leave them and let nature take its course?
Your answers in the first part of your reply. Another setup until you want them breeding, Mark

[citysnakes]

hehe, ya thats why i do it, for the millions of dollars i make breeding the little guys...

[mykee]

Julian, you too? You missed that boat by about 5 years.
Does anyone remember when spiders were $25K, pieds were $16K, pastels were $4K/pair, albinos were $6K?....

[Chu'Wuti]

Does anyone remember when spiders were $25K, pieds were $16K, pastels were $4K/pair, albinos were $6K?....

OWWWWW! I'm so glad to live in these times--as long as I'm merely in the acquisition stage, of course. Now if I were breeding them, it would definitely be different!

[Aaron_S]

Julian, you too? You missed that boat by about 5 years.
Does anyone remember when spiders were $25K, pieds were $16K, pastels were $4K/pair, albinos were $6K?....

I remember being on a kingsnake 'special' chat and Ralph Davis was a guest there. Each person was allowed to ask a question in the room, and it went down the list. I remember asking how much pieds were. He said 22.5K so your prices still even low!

I think some of the price drops now is due to the overabundance of morphs around. I remember when everyone was going for the snow and about that year, or the one after there seemed to be a large influx of proven traits.