Quote Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh View Post
I keep putting them together until I am convinced that she is either prego or isn't going to go this year.
How do you tell if she isn't going to go? Is it as simple as pairing for 3-5 months without seeing ovulation?

I started pairing my het hypos and het piebalds back in late October. I've seen the hypos lock once (but I'm not checking very often), and the het pieds locking several times. After I saw a couple locks from the het pieds I gave both pairings a little over a week off, and both pairs are still eating like pigs. The other 2 normal females have been paired twice and I've noticed a few locks as well from my spider and lemon blast males. One more female to try out.

Quote Originally Posted by loonunit View Post
All of them? I put them together once every other week for a few days, until I see an ovulation or the season "ends" and I stop seeing locks. I'll slow it down to once a month if I'm seeing a lot of blood around the boy's vent (my black pastel George is so enthusiastic, he's leaving streaks on his pied girlfriend's white patches. YUCK.) I'll also slow it down or even just stop pairing if the boy has been hunger fasting for several months.

Is that what you're asking about, the boys who stop eating and lose weight like crazy? That would probably depends on the boy: George the black pastel is 1300 grams, so he has a lot of weight to spare. My piebald boy Winston is only 600 grams. And Winston's got two girlfriends, so I'll have to keep an eye on his eating habits and weight.
What do you mean by "All of them?"

Thanks for the help. I was mostly looking for a time line of when you end your hopes of a pair producing for you. If any of them start loosing weight I have planned to stop breeding them. Luckily everyone is still chowing down well for me.