Can males smell/sense a female next to them?

That's the best way I can figure out how to word the title (yay for being sick and exhausted!) but I have Aella and Winston in tubs next to each other on the same strip of heat tape. He's about 9 months old and she's around 5ish I believe. I've been going down the list of why he's on yet another hunger strike aside from the obvious reason that BP's can be picky. I'm by no means an expert on the more advanced things when it comes to husbandry but could being next to a female in a different tub trigger his breeding instincts or am I just pulling random "what-ifs" out of my rear to try and figure this out? No weight loss yet, just a slow grower compared to the others.

I know I can.....

I am pretty sure he smells her. How much it affects his behavior is another matter probably doesn't at all until she is "ready" that season. I keep all my male in very close proximity to the females. If males don't want to eat I don't really stress that much about it unless there is a marked weight loss. If my males want to stay small and eat less that works for me.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

I know I can.....

I am pretty sure he smells her. How much it affects his behavior is another matter probably doesn't at all until she is "ready" that season. I keep all my male in very close proximity to the females. If males don't want to eat I don't really stress that much about it unless there is a marked weight loss. If my males want to stay small and eat less that works for me.

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I don't stress about it too much these days. It's more of a lingering frustration that the anxiety tries to play on. I have a hognose who went from November to mid February before accepting food again and we've still missed a few meals but it is what it is. My friend couldn't believe how fast Aella is growing compared to Winston and mentioned that she's younger. Explaining that everyone grows at different rates was the light bulb moment when I stopped stressing.

Breeding season as a whole whether the animal is next to another of the opposite sex or not will contribute to fast, males can sense females and some breeders will keep their males in different racks even in different area/room.

Different species but I have a female corn I've raised from a hatchling since 2001, never been in contact with another snake. I had recently adopted an adult male corn from friend of a co-worker, shortly after he left QT and went into the reptile room my female dropped 13 infertile eggs. She'd never laid before. The only thing I could think was it was due to the male being in the room.
:oops:

to add to that though, I keep male/female adult ATBs, boas and ball pythons in the same room together and have never seen any indication of them being affected one way or the other by being in such close proximity in 15+ years besides the one incident I described above.