Re: Baby snakes
Honestly 5-6 years is better, but 4 is acceptable if they are of a good breeding size and not overfed. Obese boas tend to have problems reproducing, and with boas a nice mature, muscular female will handle gravidity better than a young, fat, and immature female. Males are pretty much good to go as soon as they start producing sperm, which is normally around 3 years, it's rare to get an 18 month old to breed like some state unless power fed or an especially potent male. lol My 2 year old male just recently hit 3', so he's definitely not going to be breeding size for another year or two, and that's about average from what I've seen.
I would also encourage you to rethink breeding, at least until you have a few years of experience with the species first. Boas are one of the more difficult snakes to breed, and you want to be sure you have the time and resources for the babies. Racks are a few hundred bucks each, plus heating and thermostats. The food bills will also be high to feed all those mouths, and you could potentially sit on the babies for a few years unless you sell wholesale. Which, generally isn't in the best interest of the babies. Pet stores typically take poor care of their animals, and aren't picky as to who they sell to.
Another thing to keep in mind is that breeding snakes die all the time. Females can become eggbound if fertilization goes wrong, any sort of complications can happen during gravidity, males can blow hemipenes, and females can crush or eat the male. Bad litters are also very common: heavy or complete slug litters, stillborns, and deformities. Docile females can become extremely defensive after they're bred, and may not return to normal. Breeding has an ugly side that can be disheartening or even heartbreaking. It shouldn't be taken up on a whim.
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3.3 BI Cloud, sunglow Nymeria, ghost Tirel, anery motley Crona, ghost Howl, jungle Dominika - 0.1 retic Riverrun - RIP (Guin, Morzan, Sanji, and Homura - BRBs, Bud - bp, Draco and Demigod - garters)
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