RT female breeding size - your experiences

[nulus]

Hi!

I am wondering which of these factors are the key one to predict female readiness to lay eggs: age, weight, size. I've read some articles and opinions that plastron should be at least 15 cm long an weight >1000 g.
To be honest I can't relay on my experiences because my nesting females are much more 15 cm and weight is around 1000-1100 g. I remeber one female was around 950 g and she laid fertile eggs. Yesterday I adopted female with plastron around 14-15 cm long and weight about 850 g. I wonder if she is ready to lay eggs or not yet.

Please, share your experiencces in this topic.

Regards

 

[biochemnerd808]

This is an older post, but a good question, SO, in my experience female RTs will do best if you wait until they are larger than 1000g to breed them. Their pelvis is mature at this point, making it easier for them to pass their eggs. I've also found that waiting results in larger clutch sizes. Some of the smaller/flatter subspecies that don't grow past 950g can of course be bred sooner (I also have a female who has stayed around 930-970g in the 12 years I've had her. She has produced 50+ babies over the years.