I'm trying to breed two pairs; normal x lesser and het pied x het pied. The females are 1800 and 2000 g respectively and the males are 1000 and 875 g respectively.

I've paired them three times, and each time the male shows absolutely no interest in the female and gets as far away from her as possible. (This goes for both my het pied pair and my normal x lesser pair). I did it when cold fronts were coming in every time, I misted the enclosures. These are my questions:

1) Is the male likely to breed while he is going into shed? What about when the female is going into shed?

2) I don't want to cool them for fear that they'll get RI's. I've heard of some people dropping the night temp as low as 75 - 80 during breeding season. Do any of you breed WITHOUT cooling at all? What luck have you had? I didn't cool last season and my female developed 7 follicles.

3) I have heard they are more likely to lock 1 - 2 days after the female has eaten. Will the male want to lock right after eating?

4) I've seen video of the female snake 'wagging' her tail when the male is around. How long after introduction should I see any activity like that if I'm to expect a lock? Also, if I remove the hides are they likely to get stressed and not lock?