Questions at the heart of the matter...

[Quiet Tempest]

I sure have a hard time finding definite answers to many questions on BP Breeding. I wish a large breeder would take on a project to determine a bunch of things. For example:

1- does palpating at any point cause slugs?

I've never heard of palpating causing problems like these. Being urinated or poo'd on because of palpating an irritable female, sure, but not slugs.

2- what exactly is the cause of Captive bred BPs starting the building process/growing follicles/building fat reserves before breeding? Along with this one:
- is it temperature? I don't believe so, as many breeders do nothing to change temps and still breed without problems...
- Is it barometric pressure? (storms rolling in...)
- Is it light cycle?
- Is it humidity changes?
- Does it have much or anything to do with what time of year they themselves hatched?
- Is it the scent of a ready and willing male?
- Is it a result of feeding them more for a few months, thereby triggering their "clock"?
- How much of a combination of these, and others, is it really?

BHB made a video not long ago that discussed this a little bit. He said that females' follicle size seems to play a part in whether or not a male will show interest or court/copulate with her. But does follicle growth happen in regular cycles without the presence of a male or his pheromones? I have no idea.

3- Maybe someone already knows this, but I can't really find a definite answer: How much temperature swing during incubation is too much? Some say more than 2 deg. Some say more than 3. Is temperature swing an actual cause of birth defects? Does it specifically cause kinking, twisted umbilical cords, missing eyes, higher mortality rates at hatching, etc?

I maternally incubate and the first year I tried it was in an 40g breeder tank, I did have a thermometer placed in the nest box with the female. It was just a cheap little strip thermometer sitting next to the mom on the moss but I saw temps on it swing from 80 to 90 on some days. There were 5 eggs in that first clutch and all of them hatched on day 53 - no abnormalities. Last year I saw my first baby with a kink - it was a tiny kink at the tip of her tail. I'm not sure what caused it. She was in my rack so temperatures would be less likely to fluctuate there. Maybe just lousy luck.

3a- With temperature swing, is the problem more because of condensation forming on eggs from the drop in temp?

Really no idea on this one. With maternal brooding, the eggs are protected from prolonged direct contact with water.

4- How much oxygen does the egg need during incubation? If they are in a small room, with not much fresh air entering, does that affect how much the egg tub needs to be opened/ventilated during incubation?

No idea.

5- Is the number of eggs a result of the size of the BP (weight and length), age, or genetics? Or a combo of all of the above? Is it more about the health of the animal?

I would guess that it's a matter of all of the above.

6- Are there really any real disadvantages of maternal incubation, or is it mostly hearsay by those who haven't tried it?

I would say there are more advantages to maternal incubation when compared to artificial incubation, but that's just me. There is definitely a lot of misinformation out there that is spread by people who are simply relaying what they've heard or read from others who may have never allowed their females to brood.

The most common bits of misinformation I've heard is that the female will not eat while brooding a clutch and that temps and humidity can't be kept properly for a brooding mom. I was guilty of spreading that bit about females not eating while brooding, myself, until after my the first year of breeding. I corrected my mistake when I tried offering food to the same female her second year brooding a clutch and she ate on a weekly basis throughout incubation. I learned that brooding females can be just as finicky as any other ball and that one skipped meal doesn't mean that they'll refuse all subsequent meals. As for proper conditions for maternal incubation, if your ball's enclosure permits intact sheds and healthy behavior then it's likely that conditions are already ideal for a brooding mom. You'll be keeping temps the same as always for your female. In the wild, I've read that females leave the clutch to bask and then return to their den after having warmed up. I've never seen any of my females shiver on their clutches. I'm not sure if this is because the temperature is already ideal or because balls are incapable of thermogenesis. The humidity is regulated by the female by tightening/loosening her coils and by either soaking prior to wrapping her eggs or urinating in the nest. For that reason, I don't try to increase the humidity in her enclosure unless it's extremely low. I try to keep my enclosure's humidity no less than 60% and no more than 80%.

7- If maternal incubation is used, are BPs able to raise their body temp at all?

See above answer.

8- Is the spider gene really homozygous?

As I understand it, spider is a dominant trait.

9- Why are BPs so addicting?

They're like colorful potato chips lol

10- What's Big Gunns up to these days?

No idea

I don't necessarily expect answers to all these questions, but it sure would be nice if a few breeders would conduct some experiments--possibly involving the use of ultrasounds, pressurized rooms, complete climate controlled environments...etc...--and research some of these. However, I don't see that any breeder would see the $$$ results of such research, so I wouldn't really expect them to go after things like this.

Anyway, thanks for reading the long post...Feel free to add questions and discuss...This is all just curiosity.

Good questions. I hope you get all the answers you're looking for.