Re: I hope this helps..................

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: Thanks for your comments. : They are appreciated. I'll wait another year or two...until she's the right size. : Denis : denis.patenaude@ottawa.com : : : Hi, : : : I have a trio of Eastern Indigos and one of the females is 4.5 years old. : : : I tend to underfeed my animals a little since exercise is limited and I just : : : think it's more a more natural growth rate...Anyway that's my opinion. : : : My question is this: : : : Although my female is old enough to breed, what is the minimum size and girth : : : that is recommended for breeding. They have rather large eggs and I don't want : : : to risk an egg bound female. : : : This would be my first time attempting to breed Indigos and the last thing I want to do is : : : rush the situation. : : : Your commments are appreciated. : : : Denis Patenaude : : : Ottawa, Canada : : : denis.patenaude@ottawa.com : : : Dennis, : : I applaud you not pushing your snakes to get them to size to breed right away. The following is based on my expereince with Eastern Indigos for the last 9 years+. It is just my opinion, and many others may have a different opinion, and that may well indeed work for them. I would not breed an Eastern female unless she was AT LEAST 5 1/2 feet long, preferably 6 ft, and with increased girth. Your snakes are certainly OLD enough, but I go by length and girth, as well as age. Smaller females tend to get eggbound, as you noted earlier, and tend to produce smaller clutches OR smaller eggs, which can result in smaller baby Indigos. in my book , not a good thing. I would feed the females very heavily as these large eggs, heavily calcified & granulated as they are take a lot out of the female. Which is why I also recommend giving the female a year "off" between produceing GOOD eggs. As for girth, its hard to say, but the females body should have a nice round thick appearance, with no vertebral spine showing. Go to my webpage at Renegade Reptiles and look at the Indigos there, the ones held up in the sun are indeed females, that gives you an idea of the girth. Best of luck and e-mail me at FA19@excite if you have ANY other Indigo related questions you would like answered. I will try to help as much as I can. : : : : Fred

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