Question: - "It seems to be a debate as to when to breed
ball pythons. I have read and in speaking with other breeders, females
should wait 3 winters before breeding. There seems to be discrepancies
and conflicting information out there. What are your thoughts on this?"
A - My take on this is completely different. Fact is that males will breed females in the wild regardless of their size, weight, age, etc. There is no harm in this, its doesn’t hurt the female at all. Her body knows if she can healthfully produce eggs or not and if she can’t, nothing will happen.
When hobbyists are arguing how young you can breed a female, they lack the knowledge that a female will likely bred every year of their life in the wild and it is her body’s choice of whether to produce. Its not like mammals where an egg is released / fertilized and that is it (internally involuntary). A BP female’s body has to actively develop follicles for up to months in order to produce. They can reverse the process at any time prior to ovulation if there’s an issue. If a female begins to absorb her follicles, there is nothing that I can do as breeder to change that.
Of the few females who become egg bound, almost none of them are first time breeders. In my experience egg binding is more likely to happen in a proven breeder.
When I breed a 1200g female starting in November, I know that if she wants to produce she will kick in good feeding and will be 1800g by the time she lays. If her maternal instinct doesn’t kick in then nothing will happen and no harm will done.
From a breeders stand point I really don’t want to breed a female that is not likely to produce, either from lack of weight, age or size. (Because it would be using a male on a low percentage chance of the female producing.) However a well timed breeding can sometimes keep a female on feed and avoid her going into a long fast. The point of this would not be to produce, just give the female a bit of motivation.
In short - they don’t produce eggs against their own will and best interest.
Justin K.
Source: http://jkobylka.tumblr.com/post/5640887730/from-the-mailbox-female-bp-breeding-size
A - My take on this is completely different. Fact is that males will breed females in the wild regardless of their size, weight, age, etc. There is no harm in this, its doesn’t hurt the female at all. Her body knows if she can healthfully produce eggs or not and if she can’t, nothing will happen.
When hobbyists are arguing how young you can breed a female, they lack the knowledge that a female will likely bred every year of their life in the wild and it is her body’s choice of whether to produce. Its not like mammals where an egg is released / fertilized and that is it (internally involuntary). A BP female’s body has to actively develop follicles for up to months in order to produce. They can reverse the process at any time prior to ovulation if there’s an issue. If a female begins to absorb her follicles, there is nothing that I can do as breeder to change that.
Of the few females who become egg bound, almost none of them are first time breeders. In my experience egg binding is more likely to happen in a proven breeder.
When I breed a 1200g female starting in November, I know that if she wants to produce she will kick in good feeding and will be 1800g by the time she lays. If her maternal instinct doesn’t kick in then nothing will happen and no harm will done.
From a breeders stand point I really don’t want to breed a female that is not likely to produce, either from lack of weight, age or size. (Because it would be using a male on a low percentage chance of the female producing.) However a well timed breeding can sometimes keep a female on feed and avoid her going into a long fast. The point of this would not be to produce, just give the female a bit of motivation.
In short - they don’t produce eggs against their own will and best interest.
Justin K.
Source: http://jkobylka.tumblr.com/post/5640887730/from-the-mailbox-female-bp-breeding-size
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