how much does a female have to weigh?

[LUBU]

Does anyone now what a female must weigh before breeding?

 

[RyanR]

please elaborate on your question... the age length and current weight of the female would greatly help us to determine the answer.. thanx have a nice day ^^

 

[LUBU]

I just ment in general what does a female CORNSNAKE have to weigh before breeding. Obviously I ment a cornsnake since this is in a cornsnake forum ryanr. Have a nice day also.

 

[RyanR]

Please use the search function. i think this tool will greatly help you on your quest to because a corn snake breeding master :grin01:

 

[WAS1]

As a rule.. 3 years old, 3 ft long, 300grams, minimum.

 

[LUBU]

Could somone besides ryanr post please, this kid dosent make sense. By the way did you mean become???

 

[LUBU]

Thank you WAS1. Thats all I wanted to know.

 

[danvega]

As a rule.. 3 years old, 3 ft long, 300grams, minimum.

Like was1 stated, this is the general rule. I believe weight is the most concerning factor. In other words, a female should be 'equipped' (large enough) to carry a clutch of eggs. Usually, by the time a female is 300 grams, she will be 3 feet long, and at least nearing 3 years old. Keep in mind though, 300 should be the minimum--more is usually better. In my opinion, there is no point to rush and get only 5 viable eggs, when waiting and fattening up the female may lead to 15 viable eggs.

 

[cornsnakekid92]

As a rule.. 3 years old, 3 ft long, 300grams, minimum.

That is a very minimum, most breeders wait until they are 340 grams, I have not bred but for the sake of your snake i would not recommend breeding until she is 350 grams on empty

 

[ghosthousecorns]

I kind of go more by age
I have 2 nice sized '04 females that could breed this year if you just went by weight, but I am waiting until '07, I am not in a hurry. They still have a little growing to do and I want all their energy to go into reaching full size, not producing eggs.
I will try to breed my '04 male this year though... look the other way Murphy!

 

[Drizzt80]

You're not going to find a solid answer, if you haven't realized already!

I generally go with 200-260 grams minimum to be placed in brumation, and 300 grams minimum leading up to breeding. You can successfully breed at 260 grams which I believe is the minimum recommended weight in Kathy's book. It is my understanding that the size - specifically mass - is more important than age or length. I'm sure there are fellow members that could share stories of a snake or two in their collection that are several (4+) years old that barely get over 300 grams.

D80

 

[princess]

That is a very minimum, most breeders wait until they are 340 grams, I have not bred but for the sake of your snake i would not recommend breeding until she is 350 grams on empty

Just wondering which breeders you're talking about and where you get your data?

I vaguely follow the 3 x 3 guideline but I find that my snakes grow well on a modest diet and get to 300g well before their 3rd birthday.

I have a 19 month old snow female who was recently mated for the first time and weighs 430g and is well over 3½ foot. I also own her (older) brother and he grew like a weed too. I also have an amel who is 7 years old and has produced clutches for the last 3 years but is only just 300g.

In the edition of Kathy Loves book that I have there is a table of breeding outcomes where the minimum size for breeding was set at 200g. I believe it was later raised to 250g.

I'd recommend letting your females get to 300g and then going through the emptying and brumating routine before heating them up and attempting to mate them. They must be in good healthy condition with good muscle and no parasites BEFORE any breeding is attempted. This has worked for me and I hope it'll also work for you.

 

[princess]

I have a 19 month old snow female who was recently mated for the first time and weighs 430g and is well over 3½ foot.

*EDIT*

I gave you her december weight sorry, she's now 470g! :crazy02:

 

[TandJ]

That is humongous for 19 monthes Adele.. 300g seems to be the concenous.

Regards.. T and J

 

[princess]

What's another 12g when you're this fat!

470 was a guesstimate based on how much she puts on each month but I just weighed her and here's the pudding!

The fatso!

 

[cornsnakekid92]

Just wondering which breeders you're talking about and where you get your data?

I vaguely follow the 3 x 3 guideline but I find that my snakes grow well on a modest diet and get to 300g well before their 3rd birthday.

I have a 19 month old snow female who was recently mated for the first time and weighs 430g and is well over 3½ foot. I also own her (older) brother and he grew like a weed too. I also have an amel who is 7 years old and has produced clutches for the last 3 years but is only just 300g.

In the edition of Kathy Loves book that I have there is a table of breeding outcomes where the minimum size for breeding was set at 200g. I believe it was later raised to 250g.

I'd recommend letting your females get to 300g and then going through the emptying and brumating routine before heating them up and attempting to mate them. They must be in good healthy condition with good muscle and no parasites BEFORE any breeding is attempted. This has worked for me and I hope it'll also work for you.

just a few local breeders who only have a few corns, not saying that is what anyone should do, but they asked and i gave my advice.

 

[Elton20]

Age would be better than going by grams because your corn snake can just be fat and not mature enough so 3 years old would be the minimum age.

 

[bitsy]

(This thread's 5 years old!)

Using weight is fine as a guide, as long as it's muscle not fat.

 

[cornmorphs]

People bang on about the rule of 3, but personally I never gave that one much thought. While I do tell people on threads like this, those figures, I actually tend to go more on age.
I will breed a snake in year two, if she is solid belly wise with no lose fat, so in other words if she is strong. I have done several around 200g, but tend to leave them a bit longer most of the time.
Length wise I dont really care for a great deal, dwarf humans breed, small adult female corn breed.
I have found that generally, there are more issues with bigger or fatter females. I dont like mine over 500 grams if I can help it, and have always tried to keep the females a slender but solid snake.

 

[bitsy]

For a beginner planning their first season, I'd still say that the "3 Rules" are a good guideline, when combined with muscle tone. They minimise the risk of complications (although nothing will completely eliminate risks).

Once you get the hang of breeding wrinkles, you can start to play about with the boundaries with more confidence, and certainly Corns are bombproof enough to deal with quite a lot of tinkering.