Third time is a charm? (Ugh. You guys make it look so easy)

[Roscoe]

So since my first/last post in Nov:

Fed off feeder female kept the first male and female together for two months: no babies/pregnancy
Fed off male, got another male kept together for a month and a half: no babies/pregnancy

I can't remember, but I think somewhere in there I also tried with another female.
I also moved them from the tiny container into a 10gal aquarium
After about 3.5 months of no luck, I gave up.


I gave up back in late Feb and took a few months off and I'm going to start again.

I have a critter keeper that I was holding onto for a pregnant female, and just decided to start in there. I only have one male and one female, both healthy and from Petco. Once they (finally) have babies and they carry on reproducing, I'll have more than enough (I don't see a need to have more than a 1:1 outside of increasing chances, I'll get overwhelmed once they're successful, if all of them are).

So, crossing my fingers it works out this time. I got them Fri night and the male has been persisting her more since (early) this morning, she's refusing, but hopefully she turns up preggo in the next month or so.

[gsarchie]

If he mounts her and is only there for 0.5 seconds, that isn't her persisting, that is a successful copulation. Best of luck! How large is this female?

[I-KandyReptiles]

It took me a few times before I successfully found a group that would
Consistently produce

[angllady2]

Part of the problem is probably one male and one female. I have never had success with that. I need a minimum of two females and one male, and three girls to one male is even better.

It will take time to get it right. It took me a solid three months of trying before I got it to work, and even now I sometimes put groups together that just don't produce. I have had the most success with starting the group young. I try to get three to five females together as soon as they are weaned and eating on their own. I give them about 2 weeks to establish dominance, then I introduce the male. It is best if he's a little bit older than the girls. Sometimes the dominant female will attack the male if he's too young. They will do quite a bit of squabbling and fussing and such, but they should not draw blood. The fighting will usually last a day or two, and then he'll start getting down to business. Roughly 30-45 days after putting them together, you should see the females with big, pregnant bellies. Be aware that loosing the first litter or two is normal. Don't panic. Give them a chance to get it figured out. However, if you loose the second set of litters that should come about a month later, then it's time to try and find the culprit and feed her off. That is another reason to make a group of 4 or 5, so if you have a problem female you must feed, you still have a productive group.

Gale