yes a lot of people start dropping temps around the first of october and then start introducing males to the females around the first of november good luck but i introduced my male to my female the other day and within a couple hours they locked and didnt stopped til yesturday
to answer your other ? it all depends on the females and the feeding if you can get them to weight mine got to 1000 grams and quit eating for a few months and then started pounding rats like they didnt miss a beat so it all depends on what they want to do