Sperm Retention and Making Hets

[Serpent_Nirvana]

... I guess perhaps this is a thinly veiled "what would you breed?" question, but I hope maybe the principals can apply to others such that it isn't a totally selfish thread ...

So, last year I picked up a male caramel for pretty much the sole purpose of starting on a caramel mojave project. He wasn't big enough to breed last season, but two of my female mojaves were. I bred one of them to my male lesser, and bred the other to my male bumblebee under the auspices that, if she retained sperm from that breeding, with only a 1/4 chance of producing either a mojave or a normal, I would probably be able to tell the difference between a clutch sired by the caramel and a clutch sired by the bumblebee (with retained sperm).

She didn't take, but the bee locked with her several times (I think at least five). Now that breeding season is coming back around and the caramel should be ready to go, I'm having second thoughts about using her to make the hets. I know it's probably not that likely that she would retain sperm from the bee, but it definitely seems possible, and I wouldn't want to be stuck in the position of having a clutch of one bee, one pastel and five mojaves that may or may not be het caramel (or worse, raising up a few female mojaves only to find out years later that they weren't hets, and I'm that much more behind on the project).

I do still have one totally virgin female mojave to breed him too, so even if I commit the bigger female to the bumblebee, I could still get my female mojave het caramel(s) this season -- but I was hoping to hedge my bets by breeding him to more than one.

So, here's the "would you" part: Would you breed the big mojave to the caramel (knowing that there's the slight possibility of sperm retention and utter confusion in the resulting clutch), or breed the bumblebee to the big mojave and use only the virgin mojave to make hets, so there's no chance of confusion?

... And, because every thread needs pictures even if they add absolutely nothing to the discussion here are the players in question:


Male caramel



Male bee



Big female mojave (bred to bee last year; didn't take)



Smaller virgin female mojave (will be paired w/caramel exclusively this year)




Thanks all!

[LotsaBalls]

Good question! I'll be thinking about this more next year I hope. But to answer now without being in the situation I would say if they are just for you breed him to the larger one also. But if you plan on selling any just be prepared to sell as non hets. If that helps...