How frequently do you pair females?

[Blue Apple Herps]

There's always a lot of talk about how frequently to pair a male with various females and how much time he needs off, but I'm wondering how frequently do you try and pair your females with a male?

[hondo1967]

I put the males in on a 2 day schedual, 2 days with a female and 2 days off, some people do 3 days on and 3 days off.

[Blue Apple Herps]

I put the males in on a 2 day schedual, 2 days with a female and 2 days off, some people do 3 days on and 3 days off.

Is this with one female or with multiple females? i.e. you pair him with Female 1 for two days, give him two off. Then pair him with female 2 for two days, give him two off, etc. My question is how long until female 1 would be paired again? Or do you do two on two off with the same female over and over again?

[hondo1967]

Is this with one female or with multiple females? i.e. you pair him with Female 1 for two days, give him two off. Then pair him with female 2 for two days, give him two off, etc. My question is how long until female 1 would be paired again? Or do you do two on two off with the same female over and over again?

Yep, thats what i do but im not looking to breed a ton of animals, just looking for certain morphs, I try not to burn out the males, theres good info on the subject at 8ball adam has a whole rundown on the breeding cycle

[WingedWolfPsion]

I put my male in with a girl for 2 days, then switch him to another girl for another 2 days. He gets put back in his own bin the morning of feeding day for him, and then he gets the day after that off to digest--then it's back with the girls. If he doesn't eat, he still gets those 2 days off, once a week.

At least once, maybe twice during the season, he gets a week off.

Size of the male matters, too--a young male that starts to look too skinny or is off feed for too long should probably get a warm-up and sit out the rest of the season--don't want him to lose too much weight.

[Adam_Wysocki]

It really depends what's going on when I pair them up ... is the male courting, is there a lock, are they laying at opposite ends of the cage, etc.

How often pairing occur around here depends on what the animals are doing.

It only takes once lock for a female to become gravid ... for piece of mind, I like to see a bunch ... but there's no sense on just blindly running a male in with a female over and over and over again if they are either not doing anything or if they lock every time you pair them up.

Hope this helps.

-adam

[AjBalls]

I'll throw my males in with a female at least twice a month. Just one say, if they don't lock he is pulled out and tried again later in the month.

[AjBalls]

Just one DAY.

Dang I hate this Mac. Can't quit making typing errors.

[rabernet]

I like to give my males a longer rest period than WWP. I put the male in with a female for 3 days. Then four days rest, with feed on the first of the four days. Then to the next female. If he starts to refuse feed, he comes out of the rotation for longer rest.

Only two days of rest to every four days of breeding seems like the male isn't getting a lot of rest.

Each female will be with the male for a total of six days a month (or a rotation every other week) until ovulation.

That's how I did it last year and will do it this year.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I also pay attention to who's doing what--a female that is locking with males will get the male put back with her frequently. If there's no locking going on from the female, but the male is going with other girls, then after a few tries, I'll wait until she sheds and try again then.

If the boy's not locking with any girls, he gets 3 days off before trying again--no breeding activity that night, then he's back in his bin for another 3 days.

How much time off a female gets depends on how many females the male I'm using for her is seeing--but she gets at least two days off per week to eat and digest.