Breeding too much?

[sherrisixxx]

I saw an ad for a breeding pair for sale. The seller said his axies breed every 3-4 weeks. Is this possible, so often? And other thing thatI thought when reading this, was wouldn't that put the female's body under too much pressure?

 

[skylar]

I think they can breed every month, but its likely that they wont. i'm sure the female's life would be considerably shortened breeding that much

 

[edward]

Ovulation and egg production are typically linked to fat reserves. If you are feeding the animal enough to enable to reserves to be quickly replenished then you are going to enable the rapid reproduction. In reptiles this has been linked (anecdotally) to a decreased reproductive life span in some colubrids and some turtles but I have not seen any data linking shorten lifespan (reproductive or otherwise) to increased frequency of reproduction in amphibians (except that some species of female anurans are at greater risk of corneal lipidosis when not allowed to breed).

Ed