breeding size

[big J]

What's the general size a female needs to be before you breed her I have one eastern female that's about 22 inches and the males I have are between 16 and 20 inches

[ssssnakeluvr]

generally they need to be around 18" or larger, males can breed after 12", they don't have to be very big. You want the females to be larger as it's harder on smaller younger females.

[Stefan-A]

So a 35 inch red-sided female should also be big enough to breed?

[Elliot]

So a 35 inch red-sided female should also be big enough to breed?

I think I'd wait another year.

[Stefan-A]

I think I'd wait another year.

I think she'll wait another year anyway.

Now if I could only get her to eat with the same enthusiasm as she used to. She eats as much as before (I'm keeping record), but smaller food items and more often. And you can't look or she refuses to eat.

[drache]

And you can't look or she refuses to eat.

has she always done that or is this something that came with her reduction in appetite?

[Stefan-A]

has she always done that or is this something that came with her reduction in appetite?

Oh that's a long story..

She used to be a very aggressive feeder, really charging at food items. This little dilemma started sometime around the time they mated, about 90 days ago.

Fed her worms once and after that, she became very picky. Wouldn't eat fish or mice, just worms. Fed her worms a few times, with plenty of supplements, but then I stopped and started offering only fish and mice until she started taking them again.

Initially just the smallest fish or parts of fish (ate only the head) and one 2 week old mouse per week, when I previously had been giving her one 3 week old or two 2 week old mice (she would have eaten a lot more than that). I always suspected that I might be over-feeding her, but she's still growing and the amount of food in relation to her own weight stayed under 10%.

Now, she won't eat in public, I have to put the mouse in the terrarium and go away, or leave it over night. She won't take it if anybody is close by.

I have no idea what changed during that time. They mated and I moved them to a new terrarium, but I moved them after she had already started refusing mice and fish.

I could spend an hour describing her current general behavior, but that's probably unnecessary.

Does she look gravid to you? Not to me.

[Thamnophis]

Stefan, you say after they mated.
Isn't she pregnant?

[Stefan-A]

Stefan, you say after they mated.
Isn't she pregnant?

I'm pretty sure she isn't, despite the fact that they mated. The picture I just linked to was taken a few days ago. I just checked my records, they mated 89 days ago.

[Thamnophis]

You never know. It is not said that she became pregnant right away after the mating.