Just got a Volta region WC female!

Yeah my plan was to take an Axanthic Killer Bee to this girl if I got her, was going to hold back all the het ax bumble bees and outcross with my enchi and calico stuff. I've heard that the gigantism gene is dominant so you should have 50% or so of the offspring giants. The only way to tell is to raise the females up to around 600g or so, the gigantism ones should take off way ahead of the others after 600g.

I'm told I should be able to tell by the larger heads. The "giant" babies supposedly have a little bit larger head. I'll be growing them up some before any are let go, I think. I haven't heard definitive answers on whether its like a dominant trait or not. I would expect it to act like a polymorphism thing...where there will be a mix of both.

Woohoo!!!! We ultrasounded tonight, and the Volta WC has 46mm follicles!! She should ovy any time now! Gravid from the wild! That means the babies should all be the larger ones! Or at least they have a greater chance of it.

Exciting! Keep us updated (pics? :please: )

Don't have ultrasound pics. I should get some one of these times.

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Originally Posted by ClarkT

Woohoo!!!! We ultrasounded tonight, and the Volta WC has 46mm follicles!! She should ovy any time now! Gravid from the wild! That means the babies should all be the larger ones! Or at least they have a greater chance of it.

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Nice! How many?

I have a Huge Volta girl that laid 19 eggs!!!

She looks like my Tatari!

I love my girl, she came to me gravid and laid 13 eggs, but I was new and lost the entire clutch. :(

Biggest problem is getting them to eat. I've offered rats, gerbils, hamsters, ASF, everything but chicks. She's a sporadic eater at best. Took me 6 months to get her to take her first meal, and that was after laying her clutch. She ate off and on for about 3 months, then stopped again. When I started paring her the following season, she ate pretty regularly up through her glow, then stopped again. She did not lay for me this year, and has never taken a meal since her glow, about 7 months. Her weight holds steady though, so I just try to be patient. I have hopes when I begin pairing this week, it will kick start her feeding like it did last season.

Hopefully I can coax some eggs from her this year.

Gale

Just after she arrived, I felt and counted at least 12 follicles. I'd be elated with that many. Any more than that would be great, too. I'm hoping for a clutch of large babies that will all get this larger size. That would rock!

As for feeding, that's what I've heard is the biggest challenge with any WC. I'm crossing fingers that she'll take to eating, but we'll see.

Not to hijack the thread or anything but I purchased a WC gravid "possible" sub saharan last weekend from Outback. She has a slightly smaller head then the usual Volta Region girls but her head and body is still massive compared to a regular normal. If your at all interested maybe we could work out some bloodline trades if my girl does hatch out some giants? I'm thinking she should lay right around Feb 5th.

:snake: oh!!! she's a beauty!!! Congrats. :banana: