Bred too young...

I bought a pair of corns from a reputable dealer in my area who told me that the female would be ready to breed at 18+ months and 250+ grams.

So I paired the two and witnesed penetration, but then came across the rule of 3s after the fact, and now worried...

My female is a 2017, weighed 267 grams prior to pairing and measured around 3 feet. Since pairing she has been pounding back 2 adult mice per week and digesting them well.

Is there anything else I should be doing to help ensure her health through this process? Pairing was on April 6th. Thanks in advance for any advise!

I just want the female to be okay and healthy...

While I wouldn't recommend such an early pairing, it's too late to take the sperm back. I'd probably feed her a mouse every 6 or 7 days, since she can not grow all that fast between now and egg laying, if she lays. But you don't want her storing fat and complicating the egg laying process. I have bought females that were bred early by mistake and luckily they laid good eggs, but they were very small. I hatched the babies that were 3 to 4 grams and could only eat part of a pinky. They looked like colorful worms.

The rule is more of a guideline anyway. Previously the "rule" was a minimum of 200g. Keep an eye on her and be prepared for the worst case scenario. She'll probably be fine, especially if she has good muscle tone.

That's the part I wish I had more experience with: knowing if her musculature is adequate. To me she seems strong and toned, but I also have never really felt a snake that doesnt feel that way to compare to...

I read in the sticky in this forum to handle her regularly to help build muscle tone... Going to start doing that more.

Thanks.

Weighed her today and she is now weighing in at 330 grams. Not sure if that is a sign that she is developing eggs or not (considering 2.5 weeks ago she was only 267 grams...) She doesnt seem to be getting fat at all... Mind you I also cant really say for sure that I feel eggs yet when I try... Maybe one or two? We will see...

I can't feel eggs until the females are close to laying. My son can feel them long before I can. Some people just have more sensitive finger tips. By the time I can finally start feeling eggs It's time to have an egg laying container in place quickly. LOL.

Lol, good to know its not always super obvious!

Is there any sort of rule of thumb people use to guess clutch size based on weight gain during the egg-growing process? I imagine it would be highly variable, but it would be cool if there were a way to estimate.

You said it, there are too many variables.

I just try to count the bumps as the due date begins to approach.