Should I start pairing now?

[Tila]

I have a ~2600g female who has gone from recently ravenous to hit or miss about feeding. I'm finding her more frequently on the cool side of her enclosure, but not consistently. I'm wondering if I should start pairing her with my male now, or wait until November? This is only my second year breeding. I tried breeding her last year but she only weighed ~1900g and she did not become gravid. She came to me as a proven breeder who a couple years ago produced 11 eggs. I was going to wait until November since last year it meant my other female wound up becoming gravid after the holidays so I wasn't at risk of being out of town for awhile when the clutch was laid. Could waiting cause me to miss her timeline if she is starting to develop follicles? Thanks everyone, I appreciate your experience and knowledge-base.​

[Nussman]

I would go ahead and start pairing now if I were you. Then monitor her follicle size via palpating to get a sense of her development. It may take some time for her to develop to an ovulation and then another 45 or 50 days to lay, so I definitely wouldn't try to time her development around your vacation or holiday travels. Worst case scenario is that she lays while you are gone; I've had this happen on a number of occasions and come back 5 or 7 days later to a perfectly healthy clutch which mom has been taking great care of

[Tila]

Thanks!

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