Thoughts on pairing

[Asherah]

Hi all,

I've got a big het albino female that I have been pairing with my double het albino pied the last few months. There appears to have been a noticeable lack of progress. My male also completely stopped feeding and has lost what I consider too much weight to continue to pair him. I have been trying to decide what to do. Options are: A. pair with pewter male. A nice pewter or cinnamon poss het pied female would make a great hold back. B. Pair with a pastel het pied. Keep pastel possible double hets. C. No more pairings and hope he locked at some point / try again next year. Unfortunately this male is the only male I have that has albino.
I keep leaning from one to the next. All the pairings are somewhat on track with future plans. The pewter is intended to be paired with my albino female for 100% hets in the future and I'm working toward pastel albino pieds. The plan was not really for possible hets, although I don't nessesairly mind tinkering with them. Talk to me folks and give me some direction.

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[PitOnTheProwl]

Depends on what your plans are. I would pair any more if you are trying to produce something visual.
Not worth producing a bunch of possible hets to grow and prove out.

[Asherah]

Thanks pit, that is along with my thoughts. My main goal is a visual animal right now.

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[PitOnTheProwl]

Yeah I keep all my recessives like married couples so I know what the genetics are.

[Asherah]

I can forsee the issues if she happened to pair with the het male and one of the other males. I'd rather not gave a who's your daddy clutch of possible hets.

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[Albert Clark]

Hi, I would think that the dh albino pied has been successful if they have been paired for the past 3 months? Males do go off feed and may lose weight when they are breeding. I would just give him a extended break and offer food every week. Maybe offer a smaller prey item? Make sure he stays hydrated even if he isn't eating. I wouldn't switch up the males unless it was another dh albino pied.

[Asherah]

Thanks Albert. I can't say for sure that it wasn't. I never saw a lock and the male appeared generally uninterested. The female has further given no signs of impending eggs, but you never know, she could be playing tricks on me.

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[Albert Clark]

Well, because you never saw it doesn't really mean it didn't happen! Right? I would hydrate the male really well then give him like 2 weeks off. Try and feed him once a week for the 2 weeks if he still refuses put him back with the female. Really as long as he is well hydrated he should be fine. Just shorten his time with the female.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Personally I would definitely not pair another male, while you will be dealing with PH either way at least with your DH male you have a shot at a visual, and if you change male your next chance of that might be another 2 years after (not all female lay eggs every year), so if that is your main project stay focus.

How big is your male and how much weight has he lost? When did you weigh him the first time after a meal?

Have you found them curled up together even if not locked, or were they each on one side of the enclosure when paired?

How about the female what behavior has she been exhibiting, feeding frenzy, cooling herself on the cold side, soaking or warping herself around the bowl?

[bks2100]

I can forsee the issues if she happened to pair with the het male and one of the other males. I'd rather not gave a who's your daddy clutch of possible hets.

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I'm assuming you don't have any other albino or het albino males, right? It's hard to say what you should do because it really depends on what you really want and what you're aiming for down the road (along with what snakes you have to do it with). From your post saying you want the visual and assuming you have no other males with any albino in them, I'd say leave the female be and just hope there was a lock and the eggs are fertile. Like Deborah said, not all females go every year. You could pair her with your ivory and then you could tell who sired each hatchling, but who knows if one of those yellowbellys would have been fertilized with the other sires sperm and given you an albino ph pied. And you'd be really sad if she laid all yellowbellys and then didn't get up to weight next year.

It's probably best (although hardest) to just throw in the towel and wait until next season.