Wow Nigel, sit back and count to ten mate

I know what you mean though I never use the "3 by 3 by 3" rule.

I have used corn males as young as 9 months before and female corns just coming up to their 2nd birthday. However you and others tell me I feed mine too much so many of them are around the 250-300g mark regardless of age.

On a seperat note I once accidently had two house snakes mate.
They were hatchlings being raised in the same box on a rack system.
They were 7 months old when found "together"
So i seperated them.
2 months later the female laid eggs at 9 months of age.
These hatched when she was 11 months old.
As house snakes retain sperm, and produce several clutches a season, she went on to produce other eggs every couple of months that season.
She produced over 30 eggs, most of which hatched.

So I now look at each snake and assess them as individuals.
Some feamles I allow to mate at 2 year old and yet I have a 5 year old pewter that I have decided is still not ready to mate.
Nigel, hope your "old, long, heavy" female pulls through OK

Stephen

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www.SnakeBreeder.com
Various types of corns including Opal, Anery Lavender, Lavender, Snopal, Hypo Lavender, Hypo Bloodred, Bloodred, Pewter, Snow, Anery, Amel, Creamsicles, Ghost, Butter, variuos Stripes and motleys and Classics.

I had one snake die of egg binding this year But I did not know she was gravid, as I bought her on the faith that she had not been bred, and she was around 120g when I got her - fully gravid apparently! Died 4 days after I got her full of eggs. A 2nd snake I got from the same person laid eggs the following week successfully... she's now 90g! She will be stunted for life though I think

I had an egg bound snake last year who was 400g, and was believed to be a calcium problem, nothing to do with size.

I have 4-5 year old snakes that are around the 220-250g mark, and I do breed them, they're fully mature. They don't lose a huge amount of weight from the egg laying as they pack on the weight before dropping the eggs and always regain it again quickly.

I would go more on age with females myself than length or weight, I know that success with eggs is often calcium important. If a snake is only on fuzzies it's not going to have the same calcium levels as a snake on weaner rats for example... but an adult snake a 200g that is taking on plenty of calcium is going to have a much better chance of escaping egg binding than a snake at 400g with a calcium deficiency.

Obviously breeding an animal before it's adult growth is obtained may always stunt that growth because of the hormone production when creating the eggs. With snakes they are always growing really, but any good breeder knows how to judge based on age and size and appetite when a snake is a good size and taking in enough food/energy/calcium to support the eggs.

I do think though - for newbies, that the rule of 3 is a good one to follow, it's easy to remember and pretty basic to follow. But it is not the only factors in health, and I would say out of the 3, age is most important by far... and you do have to consider everything, from parentage to breeding history to size of food they prefer. It's not as simple as saying my snake has all the 3s she'll be fine.

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thanks hun, one of those things eh lol.
wasnt having a rant, just covering my backside before the pc brigade start. i know i havent done anything wrong, but there is always someone that will try and tell you that you have when they know less than you.. that was aimed at those people, none of you nice lot lol

i know what you mean steve, i wasnt having a go about your sizes, i think i was just more shocked really. the thing that gets me is you get the odd person tell me that i under feeding etc, i do the same regeime (well did, upped it since january) that rich z does.. so if the same people wanna go and tell the number corn man on the planet that he is wrong, then i'll listen to them, other than that they should not get too involved, as in most cases they know far less ythan me.
you're similar in how you do things, you have been breeding and keeping far longer than me, so i wouldnt question you.. what works for you might not work for others, same with how i do things.
you're cool mate, no probs.. i dont think i have heard too many people critisice you or how you do things dude

Is the snake ok now Nige and did she lay the rest?

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KATHRYN kat is no more!
0.0.1 Sorong GTP,
2.5.12 BCI
0.0.1 CRB
0.1.0 JCP
0.0.1 BRB
6.10.0Corns
1.0.0 Beardie
0.1.0 Chilean Rose T
0.1. Newfoundland Dog Emily
6.2. Cats
3.3 Horses
13 chickens, 0 ducks ( they all ducked off )

Ps, if you under feed, my HUGE (but not fat) RO must have been not yours

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KATHRYN kat is no more!
0.0.1 Sorong GTP,
2.5.12 BCI
0.0.1 CRB
0.1.0 JCP
0.0.1 BRB
6.10.0Corns
1.0.0 Beardie
0.1.0 Chilean Rose T
0.1. Newfoundland Dog Emily
6.2. Cats
3.3 Horses
13 chickens, 0 ducks ( they all ducked off )

nige sorry to hear about your female i hope she will be ok

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dont mess with the best cause the best dont mess

it looks like she is going in tomorrow for an op to have the eggs removed.

correct, lol

thanks hun, typical eh, i get 1.2, turns into 2.1, then the 0.1 gets eggbound.. i have even put most together yet, so i still have a few options.

Oh that is a shame!! Hope she is ok afterwards

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KATHRYN kat is no more!
0.0.1 Sorong GTP,
2.5.12 BCI
0.0.1 CRB
0.1.0 JCP
0.0.1 BRB
6.10.0Corns
1.0.0 Beardie
0.1.0 Chilean Rose T
0.1. Newfoundland Dog Emily
6.2. Cats
3.3 Horses
13 chickens, 0 ducks ( they all ducked off )

hope it goes well and she's ok tomoro

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1.1.0 corns
1.0.0 jack russel
1.0.0 mystery woofer

Shit m8, sorry to hear

I have had the exact same thing with my Anery het hypo lav, she laid 17 eggs 3 of which were duds the rest were all nice & plump. Sam my gf had a feel of her to check that there were no eggs stuck in her to sadly feel a lump, so i let her shed (she was in blue already) before booking her into the vets incase she passed it. Sadly she didn't, so i took her to the vets, they gave her a calcium injection & an oxytocin injection & then gave me 2 more oxytocin injections to give her later that day but these failed, so i went back the next day & was prescribed 4 more, these 4 injection & 4 baths also didnt work, so she had to have an op, she is a strong girl and pulled through. They made a small incision, a short distance from her vent (where the egg was situated) & removed the egg & then stitched her up. All of that cost me £300+ so not the best start to breeding but shes more then worth it & it is just one of these unfortunate things

Good luck with your girl & hope all pans out well

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