Male Uninterested in Breeding?

I have a Spotnose dbl het Clown and DG male who’s never bred before. He’s up to 1000g and has started being finicky about food. A few weeks ago I paired him with one of my females who’s laid before a few years ago. I checked every few hours, before I went to bed and when I woke up. I never saw a lock. After trying him 3 times with the same female last year without success, I’ve been losing hope with him. I give all my males 48 hours generally to lock.

Out of curiosity to see if it was that particular female and not him, I paired him a few days ago with another female who laid a nice 9 egg clutch for us last year from another male. It was storming outside and I had a fresh shed from another male in there with her. I checked consistently, and while I saw she had been tail wagging and leaving scent in the tub, again I never saw a lock from him. Now I’m *really* losing hope with him, and he was a valuable little guy for some of our projects.

One thing I haven’t tried is the sperm plug trick from another male. Are there any other tricks or tips? Do some males just… not go? We’re so disappointed after having so much success last year. Thanks in advance.


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How old is he? Have you seen sperm plugs from this male?

If he's young....
It's possible to get some males breeding as soon as they hit 900g and under a year. Have one I raised myself who did just that...
But it's not always the case. I have one male who was very shy last year. Didn't see a single lock. Used a backup male who got the job done. This year (2years old) he's been locking without a problem.

Older.... he could just be really shy. Might need a confidence boost and a couple of visits beforehand. I suppose the other question relates to the sperm plug question...was he properly sexed? I think most breeders seem to get an unlucky improperly sexed animal at least once. I know I got one early on before I started breeding but it was sexed female, ended up male. lol

So I have double-checked the sex (have probed and popped him) but that was awhile back and I haven’t looked for sperm plugs, so I’ll check that. If there’s no sperm plugs, is that a sign he’s just not physiologically ready to breed?

He’s actually closer to 3 years old. Thanks again for your reply.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by femmefalconer

After trying him 3 times with the same female last year without success, I’ve been losing hope with him.

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Sometimes it takes a lot more tries than that, and there can be a number of reasons why. I agree to check his sperm plugs, he may just be developing slowly and not quite mature. Usually by 3 years they are, but I'd still check. Sometimes a new male takes quite a while to figure out what he's supposed to do, and then once he gets it, he is a lot faster to lock. Checking on him too often if he is shy could be stopping him as well. Generally a lock lasts quite a while, so checking every 3 hours might be a bit excessive, especially with a new male. Personally I'd push it to 72hrs with the female and check about 3 times a day. I'd rather miss noticing a lock than prevent one from happening.

I only check twice a day once they’re locked since they do seem to take awhile. I think on average mine go 24 hours locked. Don’t have a ton of experience to go by or anything, we only just made our first 3 clutches last breeding season. We got 26 babies from them and have 10 left over here, a few of which we’re holding back.

I appreciate all your advice, makes a lot of sense. I’ll just check on him maybe every 12 hrs if you think that’s okay, and I’ll start leaving in for 3 days as well, not 2. If I don’t see sperm plugs, is it pointless to keep trying him this season?


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If you can't get sperm plugs and it's been a while since some activity that would clear them out, I'd say it's probably not worth continuing with him this season and maybe next year is better.

If you get them, you can try my methods and see if it works better for you. If they have already locked and then released, no point to keep them the full 72 hrs, it's only if they haven't locked yet.

Okay! Thanks to both of you for all your advice. It’s much appreciated!


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As an update, I checked him this evening and he definitely does have sperm plugs. I’ll try him again this wkend during our next rainstorm. I’ll include the other male’s shed again and probably put some sperm plugs from another guy on the female. Won’t check as often either. One of my other males did lock with her pretty quickly after putting him in, so I’m hoping he’s just shy and that it may take a few “visits” first as yall mentioned.


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I’ve housed two males together for a few days. That’s worked for me.

Just as an update, the “uninterested male” did lock a few weeks ago with one of my females and is now locked again with a different female. I basically just kept trying him, giving him enough time off and only checking the tub once a day. Neither another male’s shed nor sperm plugs on the female seemed to make a difference, just time and visits apparently.


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