breeding size

[don15681]

what's worst than waiting for a female to get to breeding size.

my response is, after she gets there, your male who is big enough doesn't want to breed.

[pastel0711]

or your female refuses to breed lol. my female mojave is a two year failure so far

[ClarkT]

Happy Easter!
Just because she's up to size doesn't mean she's ready. She has to start growing her follicles. I still haven't found anything that will cause a female to start growing follicles. It seems to happen when she's ready. If she refuses to breed when you pair the male, you may be trying at the wrong time of year for her. You may be missing when she's growing follicles and getting them ready for breeding.

We ultrasound our females. I know everyone doesn't have that opportunity. It has shown, though, that there is nothing I can do to get them to start that development. I've not seen evidence that shows temperature changes, size changes, male introduction changes, or any other "change" in her environment gets her to start that development. I theorize that it has to do with a bunch of factors. Some of them may include fat reserves; what time of year she hatched; pheromones; hormones; barometric pressures; temperature; finding the right male....etc.

Anyway, I hope she starts building them soon. Best to watch for the signs that she's building follicles. Then worry about pairing the male. It's not just weight and age...
Happy Herping, and good luck!

[don15681]

Happy Easter!
Just because she's up to size doesn't mean she's ready. She has to start growing her follicles. I still haven't found anything that will cause a female to start growing follicles. It seems to happen when she's ready. If she refuses to breed when you pair the male, you may be trying at the wrong time of year for her. You may be missing when she's growing follicles and getting them ready for breeding.

We ultrasound our females. I know everyone doesn't have that opportunity. It has shown, though, that there is nothing I can do to get them to start that development. I've not seen evidence that shows temperature changes, size changes, male introduction changes, or any other "change" in her environment gets her to start that development. I theorize that it has to do with a bunch of factors. Some of them may include fat reserves; what time of year she hatched; pheromones; hormones; barometric pressures; temperature; finding the right male....etc.

Anyway, I hope she starts building them soon. Best to watch for the signs that she's building follicles. Then worry about pairing the male. It's not just weight and age...
Happy Herping, and good luck!

I hear where you're coming from. I also have an ultrasound and been using it for a few years now. I'm talking about a female with 17 mm follicles and a male pied who's around 1000 grams. he's not fat, has some good length to him. I'm trying all the tricks on him also. hopefully he catches on before she absorbs them. still time. one nice thing about the ultrasound is that not all females will grow their follicle durning nov - april and those that go different times of the year, you don't miss. I breed all year long and with doing that, the ultrasound is priceless.

[ClarkT]

I hear where you're coming from. I also have an ultrasound and been using it for a few years now. I'm talking about a female with 17 mm follicles and a male pied who's around 1000 grams. he's not fat, has some good length to him. I'm trying all the tricks on him also. hopefully he catches on before she absorbs them. still time. one nice thing about the ultrasound is that not all females will grow their follicle durning nov - april and those that go different times of the year, you don't miss. I breed all year long and with doing that, the ultrasound is priceless.

Preaching to the choir.... Year round breeding + ultrasound = far less stress on the male, and you.
I completely agree about that frustration when they won't breed, too! You throw in another male, and he's all over her. You try the pied on another female, and BAM, he'll lock up within minutes. I just don't get that, either.

I wish you the best of luck!

[don15681]

I'm putting him to 3 het pieds and a visual. he's not proven yet and I won't place him with another male, but will use fresh sheds from breeding males with him. if he doesn't breed, there's always next year. the visual female is proven. the hets won't go to anything but him. they would just get another year off as possible het pieds are almost like making normals and we don't need more of that. thanks don

[Kaorte]

Why won't you put him in with another male?

Also, for those of you that have ultrasound machines, where did you buy them and how much did they run you? I'm considering getting one in the future.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[don15681]

Why won't you put him in with another male?

Also, for those of you that have ultrasound machines, where did you buy them and how much did they run you? I'm considering getting one in the future.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

sometimes when you place a male in with another breeder male, it will shut down the less dominant one even longer. setting you back even more. I've talked to a few breeders I know, the one been breeding snakes for over 30 years. they said a fresh shed does the same. the one will even freeze the shed as long as it's wet not dry when it's in with the male.

my ultrasound I purchased it from paul wyble from steel city exotics, he also runs the pittsburgh reptile show. here's their web site http://www.steelcityreptileexpo.com/

I did some snake trading and cash so the exact amount not sure of, but it was around 3000 and it came with the better probe. when ultrasounding snakes you don't need a real high end machine. we have 2 and the one that cost a lot more doesn't do that much more (or better) for the price.

[Kaorte]

Yeah I always try the shed trick first. I had one male that would just not breed this season. Dropped him in with another male and he has been a breeding machine ever since! I wouldn't do this with all my snakes, but it does seem to work sometimes.

Thanks for the info about the ultrasound. Maybe next season I'll look into buying one.