BP Breeders - Do you keep your mature males and females in the same room?

[Adam Chandler]

IMO they are going off food because you are feeding them too much and too big of a meal...I never power feed males...I hate big breeder males...Lean and mean get the job done for me!

I see what you are saying, but my guys don't get all that big. My Albino male 900g, my Lesser is 744g. Not skinny, but not obese. This power feeding cycle started after their first long winter/breeding fast. Once they finished in the spring they starting eating again with a very strong feeding response. This continues until fall when their feeding response goes from strong to non-existent.
They fasted and bred during this last winter and starting in May they started taking meals again, and again with a very strong feeding response. I’ve been offing extra rats to help gain some weight in anticipation for another breeding fast this upcoming fall. My goal isn’t for gigantic males.

6 months out of the year they have a strong feeding response, the other 6 months they have none. Since the start of the fast had been both times at the start of the normal BP breeding season I thought it was due to something triggering them into breeding mode.

But I see what you guys are saying, and especially since you guys are more experienced in BP breeding than myself I will take it to heart. Since both my breeder males have already gained back the weight they lost during their last breeding fast I will bump down their meals to a single rat a week and see if they continue to take food past their normal October/November wall.