Sperm plug regeneration

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Right, which is why I don't like messing with them...

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??? I'm not sure I understand how that helps in a captive situation.

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Originally Posted by pfan151

??? I'm not sure I understand how that helps in a captive situation.

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It may not, but I'd rather allow it to stay there if there is any benefit to breeding rather then remove it. (Better safe than sorry)

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Originally Posted by pfan151

Sperm plugs have nothing to do with getting a female gravid. I pop the plugs from a lot of my males before putting them with females. Sperm plugs are not viable sperm, just a waste product. The males obviously have to be producing sperm to fertilize the follicles, but the sperm plugs that you see have nothing to do with it. Snakes ejaculate while locked up just like us humans.

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On a side note, snakes do not ejaculate like we do. Actually the sperm enters the cloaca from the testes and travel up a groove in the hemipene and into the females cloaca.

Lastly, an update on the male we were checking. He did produce a sperm plug after 23 hours from the initial popping. So, he reproduced it sometime between 11 and 23 hours.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Actually the sperm enters the cloaca from the testes and travel up a groove in the hemipene and into the females cloaca.

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Ejacute may be the wrong word. What would you call that process? The point I was trying to make is that the males transfer fresh sperm into the female while locked up and that the sperm plugs are not what fertilizes the follicles.

[QUOTE=OhBalls;979268]Hm, good question....since they are MALE, I would think after they had a nap and a beer, they're ready again :P

OMG thank you so much for that!!!

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Originally Posted by pfan151

Ejacute may be the wrong word. What would you call that process? The point I was trying to make is that the males transfer fresh sperm into the female while locked up and that the sperm plugs are not what fertilizes the follicles.

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Ejaculating is defined as ejecting semen or sperm. I'm not sure what the proper terminology would be for how it works in reptiles, I just didn't want anyone to get confused.

As far as the subject of the post is concerned, I will agree with you that the sperm plugs do not actually fertilize the follicles, however, regeneration of sprem plugs should give you a pretty good estimate at how fast they regenerate sperm(i.e. how soon they can copulate with any guarantee of actually being successful at procreation). I hope that wasn't too confusing.

I'm in the same boat as John Van.

My understanding is that the build up of sperm plugs has nothing to do directly with fertilization.....I would think though that it does indicate a few things to the breeder...

A.) the production of sperm (e.g. whether a young male could sire offspring)

B.) the rate of sperm production (based on the frequency of plug regeneration)

C.) actual copulation with the female (meaning if he has plugs after being with a female then most likely he didn't breed her even if they did appear locked at one point)

Hope that makes sense? And helps :)