Need advice on a breeding male behaving oddly...

[Bruce Whitehead]

My male BP Yvon has had two successful locks with one of my females. But now when I placed them together he started "flipping out"... much like two male sparring.

When she moves he starts thrashing, arching, pushing her against the side of the tub.

Bit of background on this male...

I had a male last year, that I got as a female. I had placed them together and they locked... I placed him with another female that I had paired with my pastel previously, and he behaved in the same manner (thrashing, etc.).

I put him back with his first female a few weeks later and he behaved in the same way. That is when I re-probed "HER" and found out that I had placed him with a male initially.

A breeder I knew said he thought that I had scared him off of breeding, and that chances are he smelt the other male on the second female.

I retired him for the season, and this year he has done well, as noted, he has had two locks.

Sooooo... is he done for the season? Can he sense this female is close to ovulation? Or perhaps I missed an ovulation? Does he smell the other males in the rack? I just really am at a loss as to his behaviour. And it is not like he is subtle about it.

I placed them together and came back because I could hear this thumping in the enclosure.

I gave them half an hour to be sure and sure enough, everytime she moves, he flips out. Is this normal? I have seen some assertive behaviour by my other snakes complete with tail wagging and lining up, etc. But with him there is none of this.

I laid on the floor in front of the rack with indirect light to watch and see, and he is just hyper aware of her every movement.

Any pointers? Do I retire him for the season?

He is a het recessive, and this female was only going to be paired with him this season.

I really do not want to waste this season, but at the same time, I do not want to pair her with any other males being that they have locked already.

Thanks in advance,
Bruce

[MDB]

sounds like he can smell the other males presence and is rebelling because of this, if you do not wish to retire him for the season I would say to put him in a room away from the other males, and also give the female a quick wash with a wet rag to help remove the scent of other males. I have heard of this working before with males who have experienced an homosexual encounter, hope this helps.

[briz]

I had one pairing battle like males this year, and I just switched males. Being in a rack or room with other males is not the problem. The male from that pairing went right into another females tub and all was good. The female got a different male and away they went.

Give him a week and reintroduce them. If they do it again I would consider them a incompatable pairing. This is considering they are sexed properly and your female is looking to breed.

If she ovulated he will show no interest or your female will twitch and nudge him off of her.

[muddoc]

Bruce,
I had a male that did the same thing. However, if I came back in the morning, he would typically be locked up with the female. I would have to see what heis doing to get a better feeling for what is going on. I did make an assumption, in that you introduced the male into the female's enclosure. I would suggest that you try to introduce the female to his enclosure, and he may not act that way. I definitely would not retire him yet, as you have plenty of time to try a few different things.

[Bruce Whitehead]

give the female a quick wash with a wet rag to help remove the scent of other males.

That was last year... I tried to make the post clear but thought there may be some confusion. This year, he has only been with one female, and she has only been with him.

If they do it again I would consider them a incompatable pairing. This is considering they are sexed properly and your female is looking to breed.

If she ovulated he will show no interest or your female will twitch and nudge him off of her.

She is fine, it is him that is being a freak. She is tail wagging and very receptive so I think she has not ovulated. She does have follicles and is developing still from what I can tell. And they have locked, so at this point I am seeing the issue as being his, not hers, or even "theirs".

Bruce,
I had a male that did the same thing. However, if I came back in the morning, he would typically be locked up with the female. I would have to see what heis doing to get a better feeling for what is going on. I did make an assumption, in that you introduced the male into the female's enclosure. I would suggest that you try to introduce the female to his enclosure, and he may not act that way. I definitely would not retire him yet, as you have plenty of time to try a few different things.

Thanks Tim... he has been going into her enclosure.

I have him and 2 other males on the rack above, and the females they are pairing with directly beneath them. I will try to introduce her to his enclosure next time and see how that goes.

I decided to wait it out... each time I checked he started to get excited again, but was visibly more relaxed each time, so I just left them alone. They are entangled now, but not locked. But he is definitely less excited about the whole thing.

I am giving them till the end of today, or early tomorrow, if no locks I will separate, give them their time off and then try to introduce her to his enclosure.

Next time I will shoot a vid of it as well, I went to shoot a vid last night and found out the batteries were dead.

Thanks for the words,
Bruce