Do I or Don't I?

[Crawly's Mom]

So yesterday was my second feeding for Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie gobbled down her rat like a champ, Clyde however refused his meal. I left it overnight, still no luck. He is deep in blue at the moment, obviously preparing to shed, so I am not SUPER concerned with the fact that he missed his meal. I do have a couple questions though.

Normally I would pair them up come Monday. Should I hold off this week since he didn't eat and he is preparing to shed? They did not lock this past week that I am aware of... I didn't see any lock or any interest for that matter. So what would you guys do? Put them together or not?

I was also curious about how often you guys feed your breeding females. I just fed Bonnie yesterday and the pig has been coming to the edge of her tub every time I walk by. It has gotten to the point where she is on top of her hide and when I walk nearby she puts her nose right up to the top of the tub. She is acting like she is starving and I just fed her. Is this normal for a female this time of the year?

[Subdriven]

Just wait till he is done shedding and offer food. If he still refuses I'd pair them still. Best to pair shortly after she sheds. But if he refuses again wait to pair till he eats again.

I feed my females a decent size meal every week and they always eat at this time of year.

[EverEvolvingExotics]

I'm not an expert, but I don't see any harm in trying.

[VEXER19]

I thought males tended to not feed sometimes during mating season. At least I think I read that somewhere. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[oliverstwist]

Thats USUALLY why (to my understanding) Why you want males to be of good size before breeding. Because often they go off of feed whilst breeding. So I have always been told to have them AT LEAST 500g before starting to breed, incase they just refuse to eat all breeding season. Sometimes you may just have to stop breeding a male if he starts dropping toomuch weight.

Again this is only what I understand, and hopefully someone more knowladgable can make in put?

[snakesRkewl]

Some males eat all year around, others will stop eating at breeding time.
The best thing to do is have plenty of weight on the male before breeding starts.
I don't place males that are in shed with a female, I wait until he shed's, offer food, then pair him up.

I feed my large females a small rat every 3-4 days from Sept through November, a few will continue that beyond November, but most slow down around early November.

Once breeding season hits once a week feeding for females are a thing of the past...

[ImBooBy]

Go ahead and give him a few days off to shed. In his blue, doubt he will be interested in breeding. I do pair when the female is in blue.
As for feeding, i feed females weekly. Females that are slightly smaller and have not been paired but will later in the season then i feed every 5-6 days.
Dont worry about it too much if your male doesnt eat in breeding season. Alot of males will go off feed for a little. This is perfectly fine if he doesnt look skinny or gets too small. I still offer food just incase. I noticed that males that take a few meals over the season tend to breed alot better and lock for longer. But if they dont eat, they should still be fine.

[Crawly's Mom]

Alrighty! I will keep that in mind. I will probably weigh them both tomorrow and then wait until Clyde is done with his shed to put them back together. He did eat last week, but I had to leave it with him overnight. This time he looked like he might strike but never did, I left it in, still no luck the next day. So I will give him this week to shed out, try feeding again Friday, if all goes well I will put them back together come the following Monday. Thank you guys.

[SlitherinSisters]

I usually don't even bother pairing them if one is in shed. Sometimes they will pair up sometimes they won't. It just gives them that much longer to take a break before getting back to work.

As for feeding, I feed the girls every week, every 5 days if they need to gain some weight. Boys get fed every 2 weeks, and during breeding season they get fed a slightly smaller meal than usually just to keep them eating. It seems to work.