Tips For Getting SD Retics To Lock?

[Aedryan Methyus]

Does anyone have any tips for getting Retics to lock? My female will be 4 years old in June and the male will be 4 in May... Since November, i’ve been giving the female a jumbo size rat and the male a large once a week, which is larger prey and more frequent feedings than their normal maintenance diets. Hot side temperatures are about 87 degrees and I haven’t been doing any night time drops... The female doesn’t thrash her tail around or act aggressive at all when I put him in with her... He simply shows no interest in her at all... He won’t even lay on top of her. They basically end up laying coiled up next to each other for 3 days.I’ve been putting them in together for 3 days then 2 weeks off ever since November... The female seems to be spending a lot of time on the cool side lately, so she may be building? I’ve tried leaving the female’s cage dirty and i’ve been leaving the male’s shed in the female’s enclosure...

Any suggestions you guys might have would be greatly appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nikkubus]

I didn't want to reply, simply because I do not have experience with breeding retics specifically and felt there are plenty of other people on the board who could give a better answer, but since you haven't gotten any response yet...

I would try putting the female' shed in the male's enclosure rather than the male's in the female's, especially given that you seem to see the male being uninterested. I would palp your female, maybe she just isn't in season yet. If you aren't doing any seasonal changes to heating, they are probably going to establish a pretty random clock instead of matching their natural season. I feel like her being cool seeking is probably a good indicator she is building, but no good way to know without palp or ultrasound. When was her last shed?

Best of luck to you! Hopefully some more retic people with more experience under their belt respond, as of now I just keep retics and breed other (much easier) stuff.

[Aedryan Methyus]

Thanks, Nik... I really appreciate your advice. As it turns out, I have decided to sell/trade these guys to expand on my Ball Python breeding projects. But, a couple of other people insist that i should increase the female’s feedings to 3 jumbo rats per week. I understand that can help entice females to build follicles, but I don’t know what that has to do with why the male isn’t showing any interest...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk