Pairing weekly vs. pairing monthly? Feeding question..

[MontyP2016]

Do you pair weekly or monthly? I haven't been on this site in almost a year but up until tonight I thought everybody paired once a week, now I'm seeing a lot of you pairing monthly.... What's the pros and cons of each if there are any? I've been doing roughly 2-3 days paired, 3-4 days off, more on if they're locked, more off if they eat.

How long will you offer food if the females are still eating? I have one female that locks with every pairing and she SLAMS food, she has 6 confirmed locks already and I'm wondering if I should stop feeding her?

Thanks in advance!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There is no need to pair a female weekly, you are just over working you male unecessarely, if you see a lock once a month is more than enough, if you don't you can always do it twice in a month. The important is to read tour animals and know when pairing is optimal doing so for 48 hours at the time.

As for feeding why would you want to stop feeding your female, she will stop on her own, until then you want to feed her until she refuses.

[Alicia]

I pair monthly -- at most once every 2-3 weeks if the pair is new and the male seems a little slow, or if the snakes seem iffy for some other reason. But that's rare, and only a special circumstance. Once a month is just fine, especially if you're getting locks. I leave the pair together 2 nights, Fri-Sunday or so.

That said, yeah, my first year I followed essentially the same schedule you're using. It worked with the pair I was using at the time, but I've been much happier with the condition of my females and males both under the once a month system. I observed absolutely no difference in the time it takes for the female to go, or for egg fertility. So, fewer pairings = same egg outcome, less stress on the snakes.

For feeding, I feed the female as long as she will eat. Be willing to reduce food size if she's still hungry even when mostly full with follicles. There are some girls who'll still take meals within a week or two of ovulation, and you do have to stop feeding them, but most won't. Most breeding females will "talk" to you with their eating habits, but they have to have the option of accepting or rejecting food to do it


(lol Interrupted while typing, and Deborah beat me to it )

[MontyP2016]

OK, I'm going to slow the pairing down, thank you both. As for feeding, I have heard that some balls will continue eating even after ovulation but they should not eat 30 days prior to laying their clutch. A couple of my females have refused but than ate the next time, one of them will take as much as I offer, I just don't want to harm the eggs by feeding the females. Thanks again

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The chances of having a female eating after ovy is very slim in the past 11 years I only had one doing so and she really only took two meals after ovulation. Not something to worry about even if they were to eat until they lay.

I breed other species as well and have females eating as normal (same prey size and frequency) until the day before egg laying.