Who's your daddy clutches

Sometimes I've kinda wondered, if the time of pairing has an influence in what male wins out making babies. Say, if the earlier or later male has a better chance. I do suspect, too, that the female may have a degree of "choice" in selecting the material she deems superior. I think the term is "passive choice," and may have been recorded in garter snakes. (though I may be wrong)

But tryin' a "whose your daddy" clutch for the first time this year, with my big pied girl. I gave her a black pewter with a male pied as backup, so, if she goes . . . At least, it will be really easy to know who the dads are ;)

I hadn't heard about the "passive choice" thing. That's interesting.

For dual-sired clutches I put the male in with the female on alternating weeks. So, week 1 male A goes in, week 2 male B, week 3 male A, etc.

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Originally Posted by Alicia

Sometimes I've kinda wondered, if the time of pairing has an influence in what male wins out making babies. Say, if the earlier or later male has a better chance. I do suspect, too, that the female may have a degree of "choice" in selecting the material she deems superior. I think the term is "passive choice," and may have been recorded in garter snakes. (though I may be wrong)

But tryin' a "whose your daddy" clutch for the first time this year, with my big pied girl. I gave her a black pewter with a male pied as backup, so, if she goes . . . At least, it will be really easy to know who the dads are ;)

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Yep that's my biggest question in the process though seems hard to prove. Does she tend to use the goods first put in place or last? My snakes in question are also pied. One of my pied females will only be her first breeding year so debating putting my coral glow pied and mahogany pied with her.

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Originally Posted by Alicia

Sometimes I've kinda wondered, if the time of pairing has an influence in what male wins out making babies. Say, if the earlier or later male has a better chance. I do suspect, too, that the female may have a degree of "choice" in selecting the material she deems superior. I think the term is "passive choice," and may have been recorded in garter snakes. (though I may be wrong)

But tryin' a "whose your daddy" clutch for the first time this year, with my big pied girl. I gave her a black pewter with a male pied as backup, so, if she goes . . . At least, it will be really easy to know who the dads are ;)

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. Nice deduction Alicia, I have been breeding garter snakes for the past 5 years and the "passive choice" phenomenon is something new to me. It does sound plausible in any case. I don't know how effective the time of pairing is since all the sperm is stored until ovulation when the follicles leave the ovaries and travel downwards to be fertilized in the oviducts. However stranger things have happened.

Sorry, I'd typed out a reply days ago, but it didn't post for some reason :confusd:

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Originally Posted by HannahLou

One of my pied females will only be her first breeding year so debating putting my coral glow pied and mahogany pied with her.

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No matter what you end up doing . . . Best of luck! Pieds for the win!! lol

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Originally Posted by bcr229

For dual-sired clutches I put the male in with the female on alternating weeks. So, week 1 male A goes in, week 2 male B, week 3 male A, etc.

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I like the alternating weeks idea. If I ever try a dual-sired clutched again, I'm going to try that.

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I hadn't heard about the "passive choice" thing. That's interesting.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

. Nice deduction Alicia, I have been breeding garter snakes for the past 5 years and the "passive choice" phenomenon is something new to me. It does sound plausible in any case. I don't know how effective the time of pairing is since all the sperm is stored until ovulation when the follicles leave the ovaries and travel downwards to be fertilized in the oviducts. However stranger things have happened.

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It would depend on the female having either some way of destroying sperm in the oviducts, possibly competition between sperm, or sorting at the ova-level. Weirdly, the Barkers suggested in Pythons of the World vol 2 that the female ball python's immune system may attack late-arriving material -- although I don' t know what their source was. As some populations of garters have such a wildly different reproductive strategy than BPs, I don't know if it's the kind of thing we would see in a who's yer daddy clutch . . . But any time there's a precedent, I don't think it hurts to toss something out there.